Barbara Tellefson: 1936-2020

In the days after Barbara Tellefson died, scores of well-wishers described her as “Saint Barbara,” an “unstoppable force for good,” “a walking heart of gold,” a woman who “inspired others to join her in moving mountains.” She was the founder and matriarch of the Unity Shoppe, which formed in 1987 thanks in part to Kenny Loggins. In true Barbara Tellefson fashion, she convinced him to help her get KEYT-TV to be a partner in what has become an annual Unity Shoppe Telethon fundraiser in support of low-income residents.

In the last half century of her 84 years of life, Barbara was proudly a human rights champion with a strong work ethic. She attributed her pragmatism and defense of basic human rights to fundamental values instilled by her family.

In the small Southern town of Dinwiddie, Virginia, Barbara absorbed important life lessons as she worked alongside her parents as they learned the language and reinvented themselves in a new world with few resources. Emigres from Germany who managed to escape before the full onset of World War II and the atrocities of the Holocaust that would ensue, her family arrived in the United States penniless. They eventually cobbled together enough money to buy a simple side-of-the-highway motel with adjoining dinette and gas station. Throughout her life, Barbara referred to those years in Dinwiddie as the place she developed a profound appreciation for “people of all kinds passing through on their lives’ journeys.”