Evening star., 1943-03-21
Capcble Voluntary Services Handy Woman
Is Tuueler; Author; Executive, Housewife
Mrs. Fowler Barker
Versatile as Aide
To Section Chief
By Mary MacCracken Jones.

By Mary MacCracken Jones
Every one who wants anything
in the American Women's VOL
untary Services goes straight to
the front Office" or business
office. It's chief is Mrs. Nathan
Wyeth but, as her duties fire.
quently take her elsewhere, it is
largely to the desk of Mrs. Fowler
Barker, assistant section chief,
that the flood of requests, requisi-
tions and complaints come
1t may be that the flood is
greater because every request is
met with a smile and Yes,
certainly, I'll see to it," And
she does see to it. Even a neces-
sary refusal is given with such
pleasant reasonableness that
usually a thank you" is handed
Mrs. Barker.
Early last year Mrs. Barker
came here with her husband and
family from Winnetka, Ill, as he,
the secretary and treasurer of
the Air Transport Association,
was called here by wartime duties.
Before long Mrs. Barker was
busy at the AWVS. Asked by a
friend to lunch there, she fingered
to do a bit of necessary typing,
came back to help and was
caught in the machinery of the
organization. Soon she was in
diSpenSable. She always was
ready with the answers to Who'll
do this?" Where is that?" AS
Mrs. Wyeth says, cher real worth
kept coming out" and she was
made assistant section chief.
Now every one wonders how
they got on without her. She is
a grand executive, Is never
hurried or hurried, meets every
emergency with a level head and
calm smile and has a gift for
getting things done. In less than
a year she has worked over ! 200
hours and is usually the last to
leave the building. That oher
husband has habit of coming
by to pick her up may have some
thing more to do with this, for
they go off gayly together.
She loves her work in the
AWVS for she likes to do things
and loves being with people.
No one would think, seeing
Mrs. Barker's clear desk and eff
cient air, that this competent
executive also was a writer of
clever verse and fiction, the
mother of two tall and good
looking children, an excellent
housekeeper and an inspired
cook. Her tall, blond husband is
so youthfully attractive that it is
hard to believe he saw eight
months active service in the RAF
in the last war.
At present her family numbers
only three, for her 20-year-old
son, who has been serving on a
submarine chaser, has just been
ordered to another station. Fif-
teen-year- old Ann aspires to
being a painter and has used
color with remarkable success.
Isabel Barker is a true Wash
ingtonian, born not SO long ago
in the District, daughter of Mr..
and Mrs. Alfred Ball Garges.
Educated here, she started her
scholastic career in the primary
division of Fairmount Seminary
along with Tallulah Bankhead.
She studied at George Washing
ton University and for a short
time before her first marriage to-
Thomas Vincent Monahan she
worked in the War Department.
In a comparatively short life
she has covered almost as much
territory as Mrs. Roosevelt, hav-
ing lived in or visited every State
in the Union except Vermont and
South Dakota, and is interested
in every place she has seen.
Travelling is hobby of the
whole Barker family. Mrs. Bark
er says. 1--WE all love to travel and
used to start packing at the mere
mention of a distant spot. Some
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