Obituary for Dr. Barbara E.M. Cannon
Barbara E.M. Cannon Anderson passed away, peacefully, near her longtime residence in Alameda, California on the 28th of December 2018, after a prolonged period of declining health. She was born to Archie L and Jimmie Jones Cannon on the 17th of January in 1936, 3 years to the day after her brother Auburn Cannon.
Dr. Cannon was raised in Big Sandy, Texas, population of less than 600. An accomplished pianist and flautist, her first formal music training began when she was 10 and was transported to Jarvis Christian College, 22 miles away. Dr. Cannon received a B.A. (in 1957) and M.A. (in 1965) majoring in Instrumental Music from San Francisco State. Dr. Cannon taught French, band, orchestra and choral music for several years in the Berkeley Public School System. She was awarded a sabbatical year to pursue French pedagogy at the Sorbonne (University of Paris). She was awarded a second fellowship to develop music curriculum at the University of Ghana, West Africa. She also studied at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Maine and many other Colleges and Universities too numerous to list here.
In 1977, she received her doctorate from Stanford University in Administration and Policy Design. After graduation, Dr. Cannon became the Assistant Dean of Fine Arts, Applied Arts, and Language Arts at the College of Alameda.
Dr. Cannon’s next career move was to Merritt College in Oakland California where she was the Assistant Dean of the Library and Production Center. She was also responsible for the college’s two outreach community centers, Spanish Speaking and African American. Dr. Cannon retired as Dean Emeritus, Math/Science at Merritt College.
After retirement, Dr. Cannon was an educational TV consultant and continued as Co-Host and Executive Producer, of “Oakland Is”, a local cable television show that began in the school studios when Dr. Cannon was at Merritt College. She was also the founding Vice-President, African American Museum Coalition in Oakland, California. She served several years as a Commissioner of the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission, two of them where she was the chairperson.
Dr Cannon was a long-time member (since 1993) of the Consortium of Doctors, a group of African American women who have received doctoral degrees from nationally accredited institutions. They have been recognized by, the honorable Mayor Willie L Brown, Jr, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. T
he latter praised the African American Family Monument in Savannah, GA. This monument, the brainchild of this organization, memorializes the impact of, and the removal of, the shackles of the slave trade. Dr. Cannon served two terms, for a total of 6 years, as director of the organization.
Barbara, the widow of Rev. Dr. Booker T. Anderson, Jr. a minister in the United Methodist Church, former City Councilman in the City of Richmond CA and well-respected activist in the Civil Rights movement, was a faithful member of Jones United Methodist Church in San Francisco.
Preceded in death by her parents and her brother, she is survived and mourned by several first cousins including Sandra Coleman of Dallas TX, Andrewetta Childress of Killeen TX, Eugene Barnes of White Oak TX, Eileen Williams of Richmond CA, John Williams of Livermore CA, the family of late cousin Daryl Williams. She is dearly missed by a large extended family in the greater Gladewater/Longview/White Oak area of East Texas and a host of friends, former students and associates throughout California and the rest of the U.S.