Carolkay Lissenden Barré
Carolkay Lissenden Barré, 87, died on July 17, 2025 in Stone Harbor, New Jersey with loving family by her side. Whether answering to “Carolkay” “Mom” “Mrs. Barré” “Grammy” or “Dr. Lissenden,” she was a faithful child of God, a dedicated wife, mother, and grandmother, a distinguished pediatrician and an extraordinary spirit. She opened her home and heart to everyone and reached out across the community to help others. She was an exceptional diagnostician and wholly and individually devoted to each and every one of her thousands of patients, often treating families across two generations. Carolkay was born on August 22, 1937, to Irene Hempel Lissenden and George Cyrus Lissenden, Sr. As a child growing up in Elizabeth, Carolkay was active in church, music, sports, and school. She displayed an extraordinary work ethic, tenacity, and determination, working many jobs from a young age, including in the post office, for a local veterinarian, and waiting tables in the University of Pennsylvania Dining Room during college. She grew up in Elizabeth with her siblings, George and Irene, who predeceased her, and her faithful Samoyed, Kate. Carolkay always had a deep love of animals, filling her homes in New York City, Westfield, and Mountainside at any given time with dogs, a cat, a guinea pig, rabbits, turtles, ponies, chickens and turkeys. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her beloved husband Bart Barré in Freshman German class, Carolkay earned her M.D. from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now Drexel Medical School), after which she began a groundbreaking residency at Columbia Presbyterian’s Babies Hospital in New York City, where she trained with giants like Dr. Virginia Apgar and helped establish the first pediatric NICU in the country.
The week after graduating from Medical School, she married Bart, and they were blessed with 52 years of marriage. Following her residency, Dr. Lissenden built her own pediatric practice, first in Westfield, and then for many decades in Mountainside. She also launched a second business – PediaCall – creating a first-of-its- kind night and weekend pediatric urgent care facility adjacent to Overlook Hospital. She an active faculty member in the Overlook Hospital Pediatric Residency Program and physician in the Department of Pediatrics. Carolkay was a pillar of the Mountainside community – serving as a classroom mom, guest science teacher, cast party host, costume maker, and active leader and devoted member of Community Presbyterian Church where she served on Session, Deacons, and made countless Palm Sunday pancakes, coffee hour sandwiches, and caroling party cheese potatoes. When not in Mountainside, Carolkay loved being in Stone Harbor, always warmly welcoming and feeding a houseful of family and friends. Carolkay is survived by her daughter, Lisa Barré-Quick her husband Stephen; her son Bart Barré and his wife Cathy; her three beloved grandchildren Maclaine, Emily and Christopher; and a large and cherished extended family.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Carolkay’s life to Columbia Presbyterial Babies Hospital (now New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital) through the New York-Presbyterian Fund, Inc., New York-Presbyterian, Office of Development, 525 E 68th St, Box 123, New York, NY 10065 or Community Presbyterian Church of Mountainside Youth and Music Programs, 1459 Deer Path, Mountainside, New Jersey 07092. A memorial service celebrating Carolkay’s life will be held at Community Presbyterian Church of Mountainside, 1459 Deer Path, Mountainside, NJ 07092 on Saturday, July 26, at 11 a.m. and will be live cast at https://www.cpcmountainside.com/. Condolences at www.radzieta.com.
