October 11, 1947 – August 10, 2025
Barbara Gray Bedell, a former Orcas Island Fire Commissioner, passed away on Orcas on Sunday, August 10, 2025, following a struggle of many years against Parkinson’s Disease. For 25 years Barbara was a well-known and respected member of the Orcas community.
Barbara served as an elected Orcas Island Fire and Rescue Commissioner from 2009 to 2018, and as the Lead Commissioner for three of those years. As a Commissioner, Barbara led or attended scores of documented public meetings, helped recruit and hire two Orcas Fire Chiefs, and helped produce eight annual OIFR budgets.
Before her elective service, Barbara served for many years on the board of the Orcas Medical Foundation, which supported the island’s primary medical facility before there was a tax-supported Orcas Health Care District. For six years Barbara was the President of the Spring Point Homeowners Association, one of the Island’s largest HOAs with 112 properties. She also worked with and generously supported the Orcas Library, the Orcas Center, the Orcas Animal Shelter, and many other local organizations.
Barbara will also be remembered as a kind and generous friend who was always up for fun and adventure, and who loved literature, needlepoint, bridge games, ice cream, traveling, Norwegian Elkhounds and opera.
Barbara Gray Bedell was born on October 11, 1947, the second child of Irving Edwin Artes and Mabel Gray Artes. Barbara grew up in the midwest, received a BA Degree in English from the University of Iowa in 1969 and a Master’s Degree in English Literature from the University of North Dakota in 1971. She became a professor in the English Department of Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she taught for almost 20 years. Barbara married Dr. R. Bruce Bedell, an Ophthalmologist in Sioux City until his retirement in 2001, when he and Barbara moved to their retirement home in Spring Point, a neighborhood of Deer Harbor, WA. Less than a year later in April, 2002, Dr. R. Bruce Bedell died unexpectedly of a heart attack at that Orcas home, at the age of 63. After this tragedy, Barbara remained on Orcas, and dedicated her time and volunteer work to this community.
Barbara is survived by her brother Fred Artes and his wife Ruth, their two daughters Skyler and Kelsey Artes, and their four grandsons Leif and Emmet Dahl, and Weston and Otis Karnes.
Donations in Barbara’s memory can be made to Orcas Loving Care, an adult care home, and the Hospice Northwest Foundation, both of which provided care to Barbara in her later years.
