Rolene Elizabeth (Burns) Barnett

October 6, 1940 — April 18, 2026

Rolene Barnett, 85, died following a brief illness that was complicated by her advanced Alzheimer’s disease and COPD. She is survived by: her two devoted and beloved daughters, Elizabeth J. Barnett (and Curtis Mowry), and Marguerite E. Barnett (and Cord Everetts), all of Albuquerque; her brother, Rollin L. Burns, Jr. (and Patricia Heath Burns), of Bethesda, MD; and her grandchildren Gwendolyn J. Mowry and Nathaniel W. Mowry, of Albuquerque. She was predeceased by her granddaughter Holly M. Mowry, her ex-husband Walter Barnett, and both of her parents.

Rolene was a woman whose infinite wellspring of charm, grace, and humbleness belied a fiercely brilliant mind and independent spirit. She was a 33-year public school teacher, beginning her career in 1962 in an inner-city elementary school in Washington, D.C., and continuing that career in Albuquerque at Navajo Elementary School and Jefferson Middle School. She taught Language Arts and Math and led an environmental justice club at Jefferson for many years in the ‘80s and ‘90s. She was also one of the very first docents at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History when it opened in 1986 and continued to volunteer there for 30 years. She loved animals, especially canines, and all things biology, zoology, paleontology, and geology-related. She also loved dolls and was an avid collector her whole life, sharing this hobby with daughter Margie and heading the local Desert Doll Club in different years.

While she was born in Texas and spent her childhood in El Paso, her family moved to the Washington, D.C., area when she was a teen. She graduated from Bladensburg High School and then the University of Maryland with her bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Russian. She played the clarinet throughout her school years, from elementary through marching band in college. In retirement, she took up the violin.

Rolene loved traveling across the United States and learning about the history, culture, flora and fauna of new places. In 1976 and again in 1980, she took her whole summers to drive herself and her daughters across the United States. After she retired, she crisscrossed the country many times to visit family on the East Coast, as well as to study on paleontology digs and wildlife field trips across the West.

Throughout her life and in her death, Rolene had and continues to have the abiding love of her family. If you wish to honor Rolene, feel free to make a donation to any one of her favorite organizations.

City of Albuquerque Animal Shelters: https://www.kennelkompadres.org/home.html

NMPBS: https://www.newmexicopbs.org/

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: https://www.naturalhistoryfoundation.org/support

Arrangements entrusted to the caring professionals at

Trujillo Family Funeral Home

"Our Family Serving Yours"