Saturday, June 11, 2005
Sylvia B. Barnes, 89, a homemaker who helped her husband found the C.L. Barnes chain of furniture stores, died May 30 of complications
linked to cancer at Capital Hospice in Arlington.
Mrs. Barnes was born in Washington and as a child lived for five years in Sweden. After returning to Washington with her parents, she
graduated from Eastern High School in 1932. Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York City to take a position with New York Life
Insurance Co.; she also worked part time in a beauty salon.
In 1934, she moved to Arlington and worked for the next three years for Southern Oxygen Supply Co. She and her husband, Cedric L.
Barnes, founded the Alexandria-based C.L. Barnes Furniture stores in 1943.
While working primarily as a homemaker in succeeding years, she also was an artist, painting beach scenes, landscapes, floral scenes
and occasionally portraits that were sold through Barnes Furniture.
Mrs. Barnes also was a sculptor and an avid bridge player. She enjoyed sewing, cooking, gardening and traveling.
After living in Arlington for many years, she moved to Watergate at Landmark in Alexandria in 1976, where she lived until 2001, when she
moved to The Gardens at Fair Oaks, an assisted living home in Fairfax. At The Gardens, she enjoyed playing cards and bingo and helping
coordinate movie nights.
Her husband died in 1975.
Survivors include two children, Linnea B. Sandstrom of Clifton and Renny H. Barnes of Fairfax Station; a sister; five grandchildren; and five
great-grandchildren.