Barbara Wieringa Obituary

Barbara Odell Wieringa

Summerville - Barbara Allen Odell Wieringa, 96, formerly of Summerville and Columbia, SC, passed away on January 1, 2026, at Friendship Healthcare in Roanoke, Virginia. Born on March 22, 1929 in Birmingham, AL, she mostly grew up in Atlanta, GA (member of high school sorority in Buckhead), and Redbank, NJ. At the University of Kentucky, she joined the Kappa Delta Sorority. She spent a gap year staying with her parents in Yokohama, Japan, climbing to the top of Mt. Fuji, modelling, sailing in the harbor, and meeting her future husband, a West Point cadet at a dance. They loved to dance together for the rest of their lives. She and John Scholto Wieringa Jr. later married in Washington DC where her parents were living on Ambassador's Row. As an officer's wife, she lived in Fort Stewart, GA, Fort Sill, OK, Bloomington, IN, Fort Leavenworth, KS, West Point, NY, Daytona, FL, Okinawa, Japan, Springfield, VA, Stuttgart, Germany, and Fort Meade, MD. She was a member of Forest Lake Presbyterian Church, Summerville First Presbyterian, and rang the bells at the Presbyterian Village Chapel, where she lived for 25 years in her woodsy cottage. Barbara loved animals, sunshine, the ocean, tending to her rose garden and painting watercolors. After their retirement to Columbia, SC, she delivered Meals on Wheels, was a Girl Scout Leader, a Circle Leader at Church, loved to read novels and was an honorary lifetime member of Riverbanks Zoological Gardens.

Barbara was predeceased by her parents, Col. Robert Elsmere Odell and Allyne Lasalle Odell (SC), her beloved husband, Brigadier General John Scholto Wieringa (SC), brother Robert Elsmere Odell & Garnet "Gigi" Marie Fike Odell (SC), sister Mary Ellen Odell Jackson & Eli Oldham Jackson Jr. (KY), brother in law Charles Lester Wieringa (AT3-US Navy, Korea) & Dolores C. Wieringa (NJ), niece Irene Lasalle Jackson Howard (CA) and step grandson Matthew W. Whittington (OH).

Survivors include her son, John Robert Wieringa and wife Linda J. Evans (OH), daughter Wendy Ellen Wieringa Milliron (VA), and daughter Gigi Allyne Wieringa (SC). Niece Robin Odell Jackson (SC), Nephew Dr. Eli Oldham Jackson III (KY), Niece Mary Emilie J. and Robert O. Collins Jr. (SC), Niece Rebecca Aph J. & Richard C. Edwins (KY), Nephew Charles "Skip" Wieringa & Lynn Fipps (SC), Niece Patti W. & Joe Davison (SC), Niece Lee W. & John Kelber (SC). Grandchildren Nancy Milliron & Justin Helm (TN), Sarah Milliron & Zachary Flippen (VA), Emily R. McIntire, Gabriel A. Whittington & Christina Pena, and over 20 great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.

Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial service Saturday, April 18, 2026 at ten o'clock in the morning at the Chapel of The Village of Summerville, Presbyterian Village 201 West 9th North Street Summerville.

In lieu of flowers and in honor of her love for animals, memorial donations may be made to The Humane Society of SC (https://humanesc.org/).

We invite you to share a memory and sign our guest book.