Atlantic Beach resident Fern Claire Barber-Wides, 75

From Atlantic Beach to the University of Paris known as the Sorbonne, Fern Claire Barber-Wides had a lifelong love of culture, art and music, and literature. The Bronx native died on July 26. She was 75.

“Fern was a dignified, polished, educated woman who was also refined, stately and cultured,” said one of her two sons, Sean Leland Wides.

Born June 19, 1945 to Daniel Michael Barber and Irene Essenfeld Barber in Jewish Memorial Hospital in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, Wides spent her first 12 years in the Bronx as the family lived along the stately Grand Concourse and Walton Avenue.

A 1957 vacation in Atlantic Beach was a delight to the family that decided to move year-round to what was remembered as “a quiet, posh summer resort community.” 

Wides then went through the Lawrence School District; attending the Number Three School in Cedarhurst (now Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School); Lawrence Junior High School and Lawrence High, class of 1963. Her education then included Kansas State Teacher’s College (now part of Emporia State University) and the Sorbonne.

“Fern believed from her earliest years the concept that everyone and everything was and is created God’s image and should be treated with love, nurturing and respect,” Sean said.

She met Lawrence resident Steven Wides in 1969. His parents, Melvin and Ruth Wides owned Wides Motors Sales Corp. in Far Rockaway. Married two years later in April, their family then grew with the birth of Sean and Bradley Charles Wides.

“Fern was a wonderful loving hands-on devoted mother to her sons in every sense of the word,” Sean said, adding that later in life she was “very devoted” to her patents and their well-being. Through her deeds she showed her sons how to comport themselves and treat others.

A member of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, Wides instilled her love of religion in her children. Dedicated to helping others from all walks of life, she volunteered at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside (now Mount Sinai South Nassau) and said Sean, “brought countless love, joy and friendship to the patients.”

In 1990, Wides, then 45, returned to school, Briarcliff in Lynbrook, and became a paralegal.

“Fern never wanted to be in the spotlight,” Sean said. “Fern was truly a polished gem whose manners, conduct and kindness shine brightly in her children and all who knew her. Always and forever a true woman of valor.” She was the love of her sons’ lives, Sean added, “and will forever be missed.”