Sarah Kathryn Barron

Dr. Sarah Kathryn (Braswell) Barron was born on November 6, 1941, in McKinney, Texas, to Albert Dalton Braswell and Gloria Belle Staton. Her father was killed in a military training accident in Florida during WWII when she was just 18 months old. She was raised on a farm near Blue Ridge by her maternal grandparents, Duffy Staton and Belle Wyatt.

A bright and determined student, Sarah began her education in a one-room schoolhouse at Snow Hill, Texas, before transferring to Farmersville Elementary. She graduated as valedictorian of Farmersville High School in 1959. She went on to earn a B.S. in mathematics from Trinity University in 1962. On June 3, 1961, she married John Calvin Barron, the beginning of a loving 65-year marriage. Their daughter, Lucy Ann, was born in San Antonio in 1963.

Sarah taught in public schools and at an all-girls Catholic school while following John’s career with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Her interest in raising chinchillas and guinea pigs led her to the field of genetics. In 1971 she entered the Ph.D. program in genetics at the University of Texas at Austin, where she conducted pioneering research on Drosophila fruit flies, measuring evolutionary changes in wing structures across generations. She earned her doctorate in May 1982. She later held research and teaching positions at the University of Texas, including work on the human genome project and as a research analyst at the Balcones Research Center, where she utilized the Cray supercomputer and taught computer science.

Deeply committed to her faith, Sarah was an active member of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Austin, serving for 13 years on the General Assembly. In 2001, she and John moved to Corsicana, Texas, where she joined the Westminster Presbyterian Church and embraced small-town life. In 2019, she was inducted into the Farmersville Hall of Fame.

Sarah was preceded in death by her parents and two half-sisters. She is survived by her husband of 65 years, John Barron; her daughter Lucy and son-in-law Lawrence Marcus of Vienna, Virginia; grandsons Calvin Marcus Barron of Vienna, Virginia, and Elliott Marcus Barron of Tallahassee, Florida; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.