Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Whitbeck, Barbara Portner Breeden February 17, 2026
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Dorothy Strawhand http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008405 March 4, 2026, 8:27 pm

Virginian Pilot February 22, 2026

After a life well lived spanning over 100 years, Barbara Portner Breeden 
Whitbeck passed away on 17 February 2026, with her family at her side.

Born on September 24, 1925, she was the daughter of Alvin Otto Portner and Ethel 
Mae Old and spent her youth in Annapolis, MD, Washington, D.C., and Willoughby 
Beach, Norfolk, VA. She attended Holy Trinity Catholic School and after marrying 
her childhood sweetheart William R. Breeden, they lovingly raised 4 children in 
Raleigh, NC.

With an interest in art and history, especially genealogy, and community 
service, she was a Docent for the NC Museum of Art, a volunteer in the soup 
kitchen for Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and later a genealogist for 
the Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library in Lancaster, VA. She enjoyed European 
travel, was an avid gardener, talented artist, enjoyed competitive Scrabble 
games and rarely missed her daily crossword puzzles. There was no keener eye 
than Barbara’s for a charity shop treasure.

Barbara cherished her years on Willoughby Beach with her lifelong best friend 
Palmer Berryman Reagan. She often recalled being with Palmer in the Rosele 
Theater and being informed by “a dreamy looking usher” that Pearl Harbor had 
just been bombed. Her love of the beach later inspired the purchase of a family 
vacation home in Wrightsville Beach, NC, where she collected shells with her 
children. However, she was known to cover the “good” ones with her foot if was 
spotted by the kids first!

Barbara was preceded in death by her husbands, William Richardson Breeden and 
William F. Whitbeck as well as her son, Robert Portner Breeden.

Left to mourn the loss of this gracious, generous and exceptionally witty lady 
are her children, Leigh Richardson Breeden of Naples, FL, Nancy Breeden von 
Merveldt and her husband Clemens of Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas, and 
William Richardson Breeden, Jr. and his wife Sheila of Norfolk, VA, her 
grandchildren, Stacie Hayes, Bobby Breeden, Valär Wilson, Meredith Versen and 
Bennett Reed, her 10 great-grandchildren and many friends.

A private family graveside service will be held at Elmwood Cemetery. Online 
condolences may be offered via HD Oliver Funeral Apartments and memorial 
contributions in her honor can be made to Lancaster Virginia Historical Society, 
Lancaster, VA, in lieu of flowers.


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