Mrs. Helen Charlene Barnes Barrett
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On June 28, 2022, Mrs. Helen Charlene Barnes Barrett, the lady that touched each and every person that she came in contact with, left this life for a far bigger and more beautiful dance floor.
Charlene was born in Savannah on February 10, 1943. She was the first of four daughters of the late Charles Peeples Barnes and Helen Halford Barnes Ross, of Estill, South Carolina. She graduated from Estill High School in 1960. After a short run at Columbia College, she married her high school sweetheart, Holbrook Youmans, Sr. They were married 19 years and had four children. During this time Charlene worked for Floyd County Board of Education in Rome, Georgia and John Deere in Ridgeland, SC. She moved to Charleston with the two younger of her four children and was a skilled bookkeeper for St. Andrews Public Service District and then later moved on to Dean & Rooney orthodontics. Charlene remarried in 1989 to her soul mate Bert B. Barrett, Sr. and moved to Tybee Island, Georgia. She assisted Bert running Barrett Land Surveying until 2001 when Bert retired. Charlene was crowned the Tybee Island Beach Bum
Queen in 2014 and she was an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 154. Charlene went above and beyond to keep her family together. Family holidays were always spent with her at Tybee. When Charlene loved, she loved with everything she had.
Surviving are: Daughters: Gwendolyn Howell (John) of Wilmington Island, Jerri Thomas (Bill) of Hilton Head, Helen Youmans of Tybee Island, and Natalie Allen (Sean) of Wilmington Island; Son: Holbrook "Brook" A. Youmans Jr. (Phyllis) of Scotia; Sisters: Bettis Ann Richister (Butch) of Estill, Maree Shay (Mike) of Beaufort; Grandchildren: Grant Howell (Melinda), Lydia Workman (Shannon), Lauren Cirafesi, Megan Loadholt, Natalin Levine, Holbrook Youmans, Baleigh Kelly (Clayton), Chad Youmans, Keiffer Youmans, Taylor Layne, Anna Thomas, Jessalyn Layne, Sydney Allen, and Kinsley Allen; and one very special uncle: Edd Barnes (Linda). She will also be missed by 19 great grandchildren and many dear and loyal friends. Mrs. Barrett was predeceased by her parents, her husbands, and one sister: Myrtle Crockett.
Funeral services will be at 11 A. M. Tuesday in the Lawtonville Baptist Church in Estill, conducted by Rev. F. Asbury Lawton IV, with burial in the Lawtonville Cemetery, directed by Peeples-Rhoden Funeral Home.
Visitation will be Tuesday morning prior to the services at the church beginning at 10 A.M.
The family suggests that those who wish may send memorials to the St. Jude's Children's Home at 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105, the Alzheimer's Association at 4600 Park Road Ste. 250, Charlotte, NC 28209 Attn: SC Gift Processing, or Lawtonville Baptist Church at P.O. Box 1057, Estill, SC 29918.