Barbara Ann Storey, former legislative chief of staff, dies at 79
The Philadelphia native, who worked as chief of staff for former State Rep. Anthony H. Williams, died Jan. 8 from COVID-19. She was 79.
- Barbara Ann Storey
- 79 years old
- Born in Philadelphia
- She loved spending time with her family and helping children learn to read
Barbara Ann Storey, 79, of Philadelphia, who worked as chief of staff for longtime state lawmaker Anthony H. Williams, died Friday, Jan. 8, from COVID-19 at Rosewood Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Broomall.
She grew up in West Philadelphia in a family of six girls and three boys. As adults, the sisters got together on Saturday mornings, with their own children in tow, and danced while watching Soul Train.
“She loved her family,” said her daughter, Karen Ann Harcum. “They were very close. Every Saturday morning we all met at my grandmother’s house. … We all got up and danced.”
The women made hot dogs or pooled their money to buy hoagies from the deli around the corner. Sometimes one of their brothers, who worked in a bakery, brought cakes over.
Barbara Ann Armstrong was born in June 1941 to Rita and Louis Armstrong Sr. She was the fourth of nine children. The family lived at 56th and Master Streets.
A 1958 graduate of Overbrook High, she took secretarial courses at the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center. Upon finding clerical work at the University of Pennsylvania, she took additional accounting classes and was promoted to staff accountant at the university hospital, her family said.
She was either a high school senior or had just graduated when, one day, while sitting on her front steps with her best friend, she caught the eye of a young man, only a year older, who was walking by on his way to work.
Eventually he asked her out, and in 1960, she married Nureldeen Storey, who later became a welder. The couple attended the March on Washington in 1963 and took part in civil rights meetings in Philadelphia.
Married for more than 60 years, the Storeys had two children and lived in Cobbs Creek.
After the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Storey worked for then-State Rep. Williams, who is now a state senator. She also worked in sales at Strawbridge & Clothier.
She enjoyed cooking, sewing, shopping, and taking her children to science and art museums. She also volunteered as a reading assistant at Bryant Elementary.
“They made sure we had exposure to science, different cultures, and the arts,” said her son, Nurel Storey.
He sometimes talked to his mother about having to discipline his own children.
“‘As a parent, you’re the artist painting a picture, and up close, you see all the flaws [in your child],’” he recalled her telling him. “‘But as the grandparent, I come into the museum and see the completed picture, the total beauty of the painting.’”
“That’s how she saw her grandchildren,” Nurel Storey said.
Mrs. Storey suffered several strokes in recent years and entered the nursing home last March. Her husband missed her so much that he joined her there in August.
After her death, Williams sponsored a Senate resolution in memory of Mrs. Storey: “She will be fondly remembered as a caring and giving person … [whose] life greatly benefited all those who lived, served and worked with her.”
In addition to her son and daughter, she is survived by her husband, three sisters, three grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that memorial donations be made to the American Stroke Association at this link. A private funeral was Saturday, Jan. 23.