Barbara Ann McGinnis

Barbara (Coy) McGinnis of Morris died peacefully of complications related to Covid 19 and the general diminishment of old age on January 9, 2025, at her daughter’s home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded in love by her family. She was 97. 

A wife, mother, librarian, teacher and volunteer, Barbara was born in 1927 to Robert and Winnifred (Quigley) Coy of Danvers, MN, the older of two children; her younger brother Dr. Douglas Coy (deceased) served for decades as a physician in Grand Rapids, MN.

Schooled in Danvers and Benson, Barbara then attended The College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, where she earned a BA in History and made a lifelong commitment as a Benedictine oblate – a layperson who agrees to live by the Rule of St Benedict, dedicating their lives to prayer and service. She was honored by St. Ben’s with a lifetime Benedictine Service Award which reads, in part: “She trusts in a God who loves the poor, however poverty is construed – and stretches her heart beyond the walls of family, town and country to serve others.” She endowed scholarships at UMM (the University of MN, Morris), St. John’s University and St. Ben’s, which have served countless students over the years and will continue as a part of her impressive legacy. 

Shortly after graduating from St. Ben’s, Barbara met her husband Patrick McGinnis (from Dolton, SD, a graduate of Saint John’s) while they were both teaching high school in Chokio. They married and would later return to the area to live in Morris, where Patrick became one of the founding faculty members of UMM, earning his PhD from the University of Minnesota just prior to his death. 

Widowed suddenly in 1966 with 5 small children under the age of 9, Barbara was ever grateful for the support of UMM administrators who held open the position of Reference Librarian in a new UMM library in the wake of Patrick’s death, contingent on her completing a Masters degree in Library Science. Devoting the next year to commuting to the Twin Cities for classes during the week and returning to her young family on weekends, eventually the entire family moved to Saint Paul to allow her to complete the degree. 

Over the decades she served in various community service roles – as a teacher, a member of the UMM faculty, UMM reference librarian, and as one of the early leaders of UMM’s Commission on the Status of Women, including its efforts under Title 9 of the Civil Rights Act to bolster women’s equality in athletics; in the American Association of University Women, and in other key campus, community and non-profit roles. She taught English to Hmong and Lao refugee women in the 1980’s; served as an election judge and monitor; was a longtime faithful member of Assumption Catholic Church in Morris; and was a Regional Ombudsperson for the State of MN Office of Long-Term Care, visiting with residents to ensure they were properly cared for and monitoring nursing home facilities into her 90’s. She was also involved for years in a prison visitation ministry, and was a long-time pen pal to a death row inmate in Texas.

Fiercely independent, adventuresome, and determined to broaden her kids’ experience and perspectives, she traveled with her family in Europe, the British Isles, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia, and throughout the US – including, memorably, repeatedly trundling 5 children and her father into Amtrak’s Empire Builder as it came through Morris in the middle of the night to visit friends in the Pacific Northwest in the years following her husband’s death. Ever the hub of the wheel around which her family turned, she modeled love by welcoming her elderly father into our home and caring for him throughout his remaining years. She cultivated friends of all generations throughout her life, and was a steadfast friend to many who relied on her quiet wisdom and counsel. 

Barbara is survived by her five children: Dr. Catherine McGinnis (Dr. James Allen) of Hutchinson, MN, Clare McGinnis Dunphy (Ned Dunphy) of Bakersfield, CA, Mara McGinnis of Morris, Colin McGinnis (Dr. Claire Mathews) of Baltimore, MD, and Tim McGinnis of Middleburg, VA; 11 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her husband Patrick, and by her parents and brother. 

As she aged, she was cared for with deep love and tenderness by her children, especially her daughter Mara, her primary caretaker and companion at her home in Morris in the final decade of her life. 

Memorials may be directed to the Patrick McGinnis Family Scholarship Fund at the University of Minnesota, Morris. https://z.umn.edu/McGinnisFund

A memorial mass at Assumption Catholic Church in Morris and burial at Calvary Cemetery is being planned for this Spring; details will be announced. Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris is in charge of arrangements.