Evelyn Barber grew up in rural North Carolina and married Fred R. Barber, Jr., also a North Carolinian. She graduated from Pfeiffer College with a BA degree. Following the birth of their boys, Mark and Eric, the family spent the following years in different states due to Fred’s career. During that time, Evelyn enjoyed working as a business consultant with a number of clients throughout the US and Canada. The family returned to North Carolina in 1991.

In the early 80’s she became aware of alcoholism in their family and began a serious commitment to learning about the disease and becoming involved in 12-step recovery. When Fred became one of the three founding members of the then Healing Place in 2001, it was a natural for Evelyn to support it in every way possible. It remains her passion today.