Marjorie Darling Barnard, 63, occupational therapist

Marjorie Darling Barnard, 63, formerly of Glen Mills, an occupational therapist who became a career counselor, died Monday of Lewy body disease, a neurological illness, at Barclay Friends Nursing Home in West Chester.

A native of Reading, Mrs. Barnard graduated from George School in Bucks County. While attending Colby-Sawyer Junior College in New Hampshire, she met her future husband, Timothy Barnard, who was a student at nearby Dartmouth College. After earning a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy from Tufts University in Massachusetts, she worked in Nashville while her husband was a law student at Vanderbilt University.

In 1969, the couple moved to the Main Line. In 1976 they bought an 18th-century farm in Glen Mills. She loved renovating and maintaining the farm and mowing the fields in their 1953 tractor, her husband said.

Mrs. Barnard was an occupational therapist at Haverford State Hospital and admissions director at Westtown Lower School before earning a master's degree in counseling and psychology from Immaculata College in 1998.

For five years until becoming ill, she conducted New Choices/New Options programs in Delaware and Chester Counties. The nine-week programs provide career-development services to single parents, the underemployed, and those reentering the job market or whose family or financial situation is changing. The program, administered by Delaware County Community College, helps people build self-esteem and explore interests and talents to become self-supporting.

Mrs. Barnard was a founding member of the Delaware County Literary Council and raised money for the Concord Township Library. She served on the boards of the Goshen Friends School and Kendal Corp., a system of communities and services for older adults. She was clerk of the Willistown Friends Meeting.

In addition to her husband of 42 years, she is survived by sons Daron, Brennan and Justin; her mother, Nancy Darling; a sister; and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Westtown School Meetinghouse, 975 Westtown Rd., West Chester, Pa. 19382.

Donations may be made to Westtown School for a fund to be established in Mrs. Barnard's honor.