On 12 March 1940 she married law clerk David Reaburn Barber, and the couple settled at Aspendale.

A left-leaning councillor, she campaigned for a trained social worker for the area, the establishment of Meals on Wheels, kindergartens, a local library, a sewerage authority, a spastic centre and elderly citizens' club.

She was also a strong supporter of increased federal funding for schools and attended the National Education Congress in 1963.

Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, she was included on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001 and has a kindergarten in Aspendale named after her.

She served on the 1959 peace congress committee in Melbourne and was a member of the Australian and New Zealand Congress for International Co-operation and Disarmament, the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria), the Union of Australian Women and the Aborigines Advancement League (Victoria).