Barbara Varga

Barbara Dolan McKay Varga, 90, of Moncure, passed peacefully at her home on March 14, 2019.

Barbara was born May 23, 1928 in St. Albans, Vermont.  She lived through her high school years in Vermont until she married Conrad McKay in 1948.  Conrad McKay was in the Marine Corps and while they were married Barbara lived in many locations including Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA, Quantico, VA, Camp Lejeune, NC, Denver, CO, and Charleston, SC. She had four children, Gregg, Scott, Lanell, and Kimberley.  Her husband, Major McKay passed away in 1970 and Barbara and her children returned to live closer to family in Rutland, Vermont.  She later married Arthur Varga, of Rutland, in 1975 and they moved to Clarendon, Vermont until relocating to North Carolina in 1998.

Mrs. Varga spent her professional life as an executive assistant, working in a variety of positions including as a secretary at Third Army headquarters and as an assistant to Herbert Philbrik, an undercover FBI agent and author.  She assisted him in writing his book “I Led Three Lives” which tells of his time posing undercover in the communist party.  She spent over 20 years as an assistant at Siliski and Buzzell, a CPA firm in Rutland before retiring in 1998.  Barbara and Arthur spent many years raising and training harness race horses and racing them throughout New England and New York. 

After retiring in North Carolina, Barbara enjoyed spending time with her family, her church, and her pets.  She enjoyed the weather and opportunity to be outside walking or gardening.  Her second husband, Arthur, preceded her in death in 2009. 

She will be greatly missed by her family including her children; Gregg McKay and wife Connie of Middletown, RI,  Scott McKay and wife Judy of Rutland, VT, Lanell Perkins and husband Lee of Swansboro, NC, Kim Sutton and husband Terry of Moncure, NC, and stepson Ron Varga and wife Pam of Muskegon, MI.  Her grandchildren; Shawna McKay Gleason, Kelsey McKay, Ryan McKay, Kyle Perkins, Briana Perkins, Kendall Sutton, and Shane Sutton.  Her great-grandchildren; John Gleason and McKay Gleason. 

The family would like to extend a special thank you to Mrs. Frances Shepherd and Ms. Joyce Sloan who assisted with her care over the last couple of years. 

Visitation will be Monday, March 18th, from 6:30-8:30pm at the Donaldson funeral home in Pittsboro, NC and funeral services will be held Tuesday, March 19th at 1:00pm at Chatham United Methodist Church, Moncure, NC.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts be made to either Chatham United Methodist Church – Children’s programs (Chatham Church Road, Moncure, NC 27559) to honor her love the lord, children, and her church or to CARE (Chatham Area Rescue & Education - PO Box 610, Pittsboro, NC 27312 or www.chathamanimalrescue.org) to honor her love of all animals.