Barbara Short was born in 1937 in Texarkana, TX and raised by her grandmother. She moved to Kansas City, KS, where she majored in dressmaking at vocational school. She was encouraged to go into nursing, and was awarded a scholarship to nursing school in Kansas City, MO. She was integrated into a white hospital, while still living in the segregated dorms. Her duties included being a clerical nurse, and head nurse for the nursery. She received her BS, and moved to Detroit, then Connecticut, where she met her husband, who was in the US Air Force. They live in Japan, then moved to Richmond in 1966. Her time in Richmond was spent working with the local Treaty Line Council of Girl Scouts, and was named National Volunteer of the Year. Even after retirement, Short returned to nursing as part of the Reid Medical Auxiliary in the emergency department. She is also an active member of Bethel AME Church