Bari L. Everitt

Bari Lyn Weismantel Everitt, age 81, died of cancer at the Twin Lakes Community in Burlington, NC on May 4.

Bari and her sister Nile were raised largely by their beloved father, Fred, in Queens, NY. Fred, a successful songwriter/arranger, took the pair fishing and treated them like tomboys. Bari was an outstanding student in grade school and went on to work as an executive assistant at companies including the National Broadcasting Corporation; Holt, Rinehart and Winston; The Children’s Village; Temple B’nai Shalom; and Long Island Broadcasting, Inc.

It was at Holt she met the love of her life, Richard (Dick) Mills Everitt. They married in 1968, had a son in 1970, and lived in Miami, Florida and Westchester/Nassau County, New York. When the two divorced in 1981, Bari underwent job training through the Displaced Homemakers Program, became a leader in local support groups, and had a spiritual awakening. She was single mother working full-time and raising a son—and she flourished in terms of personal growth.

During a previous, serious bout with cancer in the early 1990s, Bari reunited romantically with Dick, who offered to drive her to chemo treatments. The two moved to Durham, NC together but never officially remarried. They traveled extensively in retirement, to the Grand Canyon, Pacific Northwest, and Cayman Islands. Bari lived with Dick until his death (from cancer) in 2013. 

Bari was an accomplished artist in pastels and watercolors. She was paid to paint portraits and enjoyed creating open landscapes and still lifes. She loved board games, a family tradition.

A loving daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother, Everitt will be fondly remembered. She is survived by son and daughter-in-law, Ladd and Robin Everitt; granddaughters Grace and Marin; and first cousin Wayne Eckert. She is preceded in death by her beloved partner Dick, parents Fred and June Weismantel, and sister Nile Weismantel.