Barbara Bowen Chisolm

Barbara Bowen Chisolm of Asheville, NC, died on March 1, 2005 from complications from endometrial (uterine) cancer. She had lived in Asheville for the past five years and was recently President of the Asheville Symphony Guild and a Board Director of the Asheville Symphony. She had also been a Board Director of Asheville Bravo Concerts and a Board Director of the World Affairs Council of Western North Carolina. Barbara enjoyed programs at UNC-Asheville’s College for Seniors, playing tennis in the USTA leagues of Asheville, fly fishing, and skiing. She belonged to the Biltmore Forest County Club and was an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church. Barbara married O. Beirne Chisolm in 1991. They first lived in Greenwich, CT, where Barbara was Executive Director of the World Affairs Forum of Stamford, CT, from 1989 to 2000. In addition, Barbara was Chairman and President of the World Affairs Councils of America with offices in Washington, DC, and a Board Director of the Foreign Policy Association in New York City. She served on a number of boards and educational organizations including the Bruce Museum and the Center for Chamber Music in Greenwich, CT, and was chairman of programs for the Greenwich Historical Society. Barbara was a member of The Field Club of Greenwich, the American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, and St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Beirne had been Vice President of Kidder Peabody and Executive Vice President of Webster Management in New York City. Barbara was previously married to the late Roland Frank Wille (d. 1988) who was Chairman and C.E.O. of the Greater New York Savings Bank at the time of his death, and had been Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1970-1976) and Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York under Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Prior to moving to Greenwich, CT, in 1982, Barbara and her family lived in Washington, DC, where she was a Director of the National Fine Arts Association, on the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, a Board Director of the Washington Choral Arts Society, and a Board Director of The National Ballet. In addition, Barbara was an Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of Virginia and a member of the Chevy Chase Club and St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. Barbara was born on December 8, 1936 in Albany, NY. She is originally from Loudonville, NY and attended St. Agnes School. She graduated from Smith College in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and after college traveled to England where she received a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of London (The Courtauld Institute) in 1961. Barbara began her career as head of the Catalog and Research Department at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In the early 1960s, she moved to the Middle East where she taught at the American Community Schools in Kuwait and Beirut before returning to the U.S. prior to the outbreak of hostilities of the Six-Day War in 1967. Barbara then became Director of the Gallery and Programs for the China Institute in New York City before moving to Washington, DC, in 1970. In addition to her husband Beirne, Barbara is survived by her two daughters, Serena Wille, an intelligence analyst in Washington, DC, and Alison Wille, a management consultant in New York City; four step-children and six step-grandchildren in Florida, Minnesota, and Utah; and her sister Linda Bowen Sorenson of Newtonville, NY. A memorial service will be held at 2pm, on Tuesday, March 8, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville, NC. In lieu of flowers, a memorial gift may be made to the Asheville Symphony Guild to support the “Music Education in the Schools” program, P.O. Box 18651, Asheville, NC 28814; “The Hope Chest for Women” at Hope–A Women’s Cancer Center, P.O. Box 16948, Asheville, NC 28816; or Trinity Episcopal Church, 60 Church St., Asheville, NC 28801. Please be sure to specify Barbara Chisolm Memorial Gift on your donation.