User:Simonemonique/Renee Barnes

Renée Barnes

Born February 9, 1950, in New York City, Renee Anita Paisley was the only child born to the union of Delores Caviness and the late Leon George Paisley. She received her early education at Our Lady of Grace School in the Bronx, and graduated from Cathedral High School in New York City. Renee continued her education at Parsons School of Design, Pace University, Temple University in Philadelphia, and also earned a certificate in paralegal studies at Lehman College.

On May 24, 1973, she married Andre Donald Barnes, and became a second mother to his son, Jason, and later bore two children, a daughter, Simone, and a son, Calieb. They were also supportive parents to her niece, Lisa.

As a young mother she was a homemaker. She was a continuous advocate for the community, having served as:

vice president of PS 14′s Parent Teacher Association an original board member of Mind-Builder’s Creative Arts Center a member of the 3500 Holland Avenue Block Association a supporter of Native peoples’s well-being a lobbyist in Albany and before the NYC Board of Estimates for fund and other issues

Renee worked as a paralegal at Gaines and Kellman in White Plains, and at the Osbourne Association in the Bronx. She also worked at New York Life, Albert Einstein Hospital, and JJO Investigations. She ended her career life as a customer service representative at Crate and Barrel, in White Plains, New York.

Renee was a very creative person, her artistic ability extended in many different areas: e.g. card making, needlepoint, sewing, crocheting and gardening. She practiced yoga daily, and enjoyed all kinds of music, including jazz, new age, hip hop, folk, Native American, Gaelic, and even heavy metal. She enjoyed movies, reading and belonging to a book club at That Old Black Magic in White Plains. She also enjoyed holiday decorations, celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving, the film The Sound of Music, stain glass windows, and carousel horses.

Renee was a people person, very spiritual, and a strong, independent woman who put no job or issue before her family life. She believed in the village concept of parenting all children, as evidenced by the many who claimed her as their own.

Renee loved her dogs as if they were her children and she talked about them frequently.

She loved to drink her “fix,” Coca-Cola, poured from a can, and served in a ceramic mug.

She leaves to cherish her memory her loving husband, Andre, her daughter Simone Monique, her sons Calieb Chicai, and Jason Shelton and his wife Lisa; granddaughters Erin, Taylor, Madison and Jessica; grandsons Jordan and Tyger; grandniece Sidnie; her loving mother Delores Caviness Brown; step-sister Sandra and step-brother Nathaniel; mother-in-law Peggy Barnes; many sisters and brothers-in-law; mother-in-love Dorothy Watkins, and brothers-in-law; sister Norma Paisley, and nieces, Debbie, Lisa, and Camille; daughter-in-love Cheryl and Jose; and many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, godchildren, family and friends too numerous to name.

At the age of 55, Renee passed away on July 3, 2005, after 2.5 years of fully living her life, despite a stage 4 diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. She was memorialized at Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx.