Barbara Randlett

Barbara Lee Randlett was born in Richmond, VA on September 30, 1939, to Walter O. Randlett and Estelle Dean Randlett.  She was educated in Richmond Public Schools and at Westhampton College, University of Richmond, where she received a BA in Mathematics and Economics in June 1961.  After graduating from college, she was married to Eugene J. Barkocy (deceased 2018) from 1961 to 1967 and had two children, Jonathan E.  Barkocy (deceased 2020) and Jean Lynn (Muffy) Barkocy, who resides in San Francisco.  Her grandson, Jonathan’s son, Davis E. Barkocy, lives in Petaluma, CA.  She has a niece, Carol Gesing Coombs, of Andover, MA and two nephews, Rand and Steven Gesing, who are located near Boston, MA.

Barbara’s first job was at age 15 as an Admin at WLEE/WXEX-TV in Richmond, where she worked during high school and college.  After graduation, she joined IBM as a Systems Engineer, thus beginning a 60-year career in Information Technology.  Over the years, her most notable employers were Bell System, Virginia Community College System, ITT, Coopers & Lybrand, Oracle Corporation, and SF banks (Bof A, Crocker, and Wells Fargo), rising to the VP level.  She consulted with major organizations including Abbott Labs/Abbvie, SOHIO, SASOL, Polaroid, Xerox Services, and, finally, Metric Insights for over twelve years, up to the time that she passed.  Her work included managing several organizations’ IT departments, the development and implementation of many major projects, vendor selection and management, and preparing strategic system plans.  Barbara was dedicated to producing high-quality products, on time, within budget, and to customer satisfaction.

As the pandemic ended, Barbara worked as a substitute at San Mateo Unified High School District.  She was a teacher at heart and integrated this skill into all of her work.  She enjoyed tutoring in both English and Math as well as teaching others how to use application systems, technical staff how to gather requirements and design applications, and encouraging/helping many to pursue IT careers.

Her entombment will be at Forest Lawn in Cathedral City, CA.  In person or via Zoom, friends and family are invited to raise a glass of Veuve Cliquot, play “The Rose” and remember that Barbara loved, appreciated and valued you all and was extremely thankful for all of the support that you gave her over the years!