Connie Barrington
After a joyful day doing what she loved—mingling with neighbors, playing the piano, and enjoying a dish of ice cream—Connie McRee Barrington died peacefully of natural causes on 12 January 2020 at her residence in Southlake, Texas. She was 86.
A musical service celebrating her life will be held at the Church of Horseshoe Bay, Saturday, 15 February 2020, at 11:00am. There will be fellowship after the service, followed by internment at the Horseshoe Bay Mausoleum.
Connie and her husband, Fred, were Realtors in Horseshoe Bay for 31 years, primarily in their own offices at Barringtons of Horseshoe Bay. Based on their professionalism, leadership, and sales results, they were honored in 2006 by the Highland Lakes Association of Realtors with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. Their abundant energy and style helped define Horseshoe Bay’s vibrant spiritual and social culture.
Connie was born on November 5, 1933, in Jackson County, Oklahoma, the second child of M.F. and Esther Weems McRee. After graduating from Dimmit High School, she attended Midwestern University (Wichita Falls, Texas) on a music scholarship. There, she met and married Fred Barrington. They shared 63 years of love and devotion, gifts passed on to three daughters, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Prior to moving to Horseshoe Bay in 1983, Connie and Fred lived in Monahans, Houston, Denver, and Corpus Christi; and they owned Fred Barrington Chevrolet in Lamesa. In each of these communities, she taught piano lessons to neighborhood children whose exercises and sonatas formed the family home’s soundtrack. No matter where they lived, Connie was a reliable member of the church choir (even serving as interim choir director at Lamesa’s First Methodist Church). She freely shared her love of music—a love which, along with her love of family, defined her life. Years later, when Fred’s dementia restricted their activities, music again dominated their home, as she played the piano throughout the day because music calmed him. After he died, playing the piano provided a reprieve from her grief. In her Southlake residence, she continued to sing and play the piano.
Connie will be dearly missed by her daughters and their families: Candace Barrington and Mike Shea (New Haven, Connecticut), Crystal Barrington and Pat Black (Horseshoe Bay, Texas), and Connie D. and John Deering (Southlake, Texas); Thomas Waldrop and Pauline Zerla (Stuttgart, Germany), Katherine, Kevin, Eleanor and Iris Kruger (Tamuning, Guam), Constance Deering (Dallas, Texas), and Caroline Deering (Clemson, South Carolina). A sister, Marilyn Durbin (Dalhart, Texas), and brothers, Burris McRee (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Brice McRee (Fort Worth, Texas), as well as numerous nieces and nephews, also survive her.
She is predeceased by her parents, and her sister, Thelda Lang. She leaves behind her many friends at Silverado Southlake, who provided her a safe and supportive community—and all the ice cream she wanted.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Music Ministry at the Church of Horseshoe Bay, PO Box 8295, HSB 78657; or to The Walk, a Fort Worth-based ministry bringing music and worship services to seniors: http://www.seniorministries.org/ .
– Press-Reporter obituary services