Vickers Cooper Barrett, 74, of Ocean City MD died September 21 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital after a valiant battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Vicki, as she was known, was born in Wilmington DE, the daughter of R. Mark Cooper and Wanda Vickers Cooper. She was raised in Kennett Square PA, graduating from Tatnall School, Wilmington. Vicki attended Pine Manor Junior College (now Pine Manor Institute for Student Success of Boston College) in Brookline MA. She received a bachelors degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
From 1969 to 1991, Vicki served on the faculty and administration of Meadowbrook School, Weston MA, teaching art in the elementary grades. She later served as the school's director of development. In 1991 she became director of the Young at Arts program at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts (now the Boch Center) in Boston.
In 1999 Vicki and her husband, Charles A. Barrett, whom she married in 1972, relocated to Ocean City MD where, until last year, they owned and operated the Inn on the Ocean, the resort's only ocean front bed and breakfast. Vicki was president of the Maryland Bed and Breakfast Association. Nothing New Under the Sun, a cookbook containing many of the recipes she developed and served in the inn and at catered events, was published in 2006.
Renowned and respected for her energy, generosity and gracious hospitality, Vicki received the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year award in 2012 for her extensive volunteer efforts promoting tourism and business development in the town. She served on the Public Art Committee of the Ocean City Downtown Development Corporation and chaired the Boardwalk Development Committee of the OCDC. Active in the Downtown Development Association, she co-chaired creating a scavenger hunt for children visiting Ocean City. She also co-chaired the Ocean City Beach Birds, a much-replicated public art project which placed 82 fiberglass bird sculptures in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties.
A supporter of creative education, Vicki developed an elementary school curriculum for use at the Teackle Mansion, an historic house museum in Princess Anne MD and served its owner, the Somerset County Historical Society, as a board member and volunteer docent at the museum. She also organized professional development sessions for county teachers sponsored by the society in conjunction with the Maryland Historical Society. Vicki's leadership inspired the creation of the Julia C. Ford Endowment Fund by the Friends of Teackle Mansion honoring a colleague and fellow teacher to be used for educational programming at the mansion. She led several other volunteer arts and preservation efforts in Somerset County.
Vicki is survived by her husband and cousins Martha Perry of Jacksonville FL and Helena Perry of Baltimore.
Funeral services will be held October 7 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 30513 Washington Street, Princess Anne, with internment in the church's cemetery adjacent to Manokin Presbyterian Church, 11890 Somerset Avenue, Princess Anne. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be directed to the Friends of Teackle Mansion Julia Ford Endowment c/o Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, 134 Belmont Avenue, Suite 401, Salisbury MD 21804.