Barbara Smith Hull

Barbara Smith Hull of Decatur, Georgia, passed away on Monday August 19, 2019. She was 93. Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, she moved to Decatur when she was 17, and attended Agnes Scott College.

After graduation, she went to work writing advertising copy for the Atlanta Journal. She met her husband of 63 years, Deloney Hull, at Decatur Presbyterian Church and they got to see more of each other when she was assigned to write copy for WSB-TV where he worked. Perhaps at the behest of an exhausted Decatur postman who had to deliver Deloney’s at least twice-daily epistles to Barbara, they were married in 1949.

She went on to earn a Masters in Education from Emory, and taught elementary school for many years at Clark Howell and Westminster Schools in Atlanta and Fernbank in DeKalb County. Upon her retirement, she volunteered as a docent for nearly 20 years at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum. In the past few years, she led a poetry group at Clairmont Place where she lived. Committed teacher, devoted wife and mother, lover of classical music and poetry, a woman of deep faith, she touched her family, friends, students, and colleagues.

She was pre-deceased by her husband. She is survived by her son, David Hull of Brussels, Belgium; her daughter, Leigh Steele (Michael) of Madison, Georgia; and her grandchildren, Michael Steele of Chicago, Illinois; Catherine Steele (Matt Edgette) of Tacoma, Washington; Emilia Hull, of New York, New York; her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Charles and Louise Hull of Sandy Springs, Georgia; and her many nieces and nephews and their children, in whom she always took an active interest.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Decatur Presbyterian Church or the Alzheimer’s Association (http://act.alz.org/goto/BarbaraHull).

A memorial service will be held on Friday, October 4 at 3 p.m. at Decatur Presbyterian Church, 205 Sycamore St., Decatur, GA 30030.