One night in the mid-1950s, Warren Barrett said to his new wife, Mary, "Let's have a dream night."

She protested. They were newlyweds, but they still had five children to feed and bathe and get to bed. Both had been widowed in their first marriages.

But Warren insisted. "If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?"

The couple sat down together and glued a vision of their perfect life on poster board with pictures torn from magazines. When they finished, Warren sat back and examined their handiwork: a farmhouse, horses, a dog and a blonde, blue-eyed baby.

"Now isn't that a storybook farm," he said.

In 1955, the Barretts moved to the 40 acres they called Storybook Farm, off Jones Ferry Road 300 yards from the Chatham County line. Their youngest son, George, who refers to himself as the "ours" of the "yours, mine and ours" family, was a blond, blue-eyed one-year old. In 1961, the couple started a well-regarded school and summer camp under the same name.

Warren Barrett died in 1994. Mary died July 8, at the age of 81, after a long illness. Her children plan to celebrate her life Sept. 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Storybook Farm, where they will share barbecue and memories of a woman who gave a fairy tale flavor to the early lives of many local residents.

"It was just a fun place," George Barrett said. "This was before specialty sports camps and computer camps. We just had fun swimming and rowing."

The Barretts also kept animals -- cows, bulls, sheep, goats, pigs and chickens -- so that learning about life on a farm and where milk came from was a part of the curriculum.

Warren supervised the summer camp, and Mary was the director of the preschool and kindergarten in the era before public schools offered those programs. She served hot meals every day prepared with vegetables from the Barrett garden. The school and camp provided transportation so she also drove one of the buses. On weekends, she mowed the vast lawn.

The Barretts retired in 1986, after 25 years of serving community children. Their life work had been fulfilling, but it wasn't necessarily financially rewarding. When Mary suffered a stroke just a few months later and was hospitalized for nine months, she didn't have health insurance, according to her son.

"My mother was always a go-go person, never sat down. She was also a gourmet cook," George Barrett said. "She was what would now be known as a 'foodie'.'' Even in a wheelchair, paralyzed on one side, she continued to cook one-handed.

Carol Oldham worked as a teacher with Mary Barrett at Storybook Farm. She sent a note to George and his family on the death of their mother: "I learned more child development from her than from four semesters of graduate school. She was our Miss Manners, Ann Landers and Doctor Spock all rolled into one," Oldham said. "Parents respected her, children loved her, and teachers were in awe of her."

George Barrett will continue his custom metalworking business, Storybook Metals, on the site of Storybook Farm. Two of his sisters have homes on the farm, and they lease the greenhouse to a nursery business.

The camp and school buildings are still there, a reminder of childhood. The family has hosted music festivals where children once played. Barrett would also like to see university picnics and family reunions return to the property.

"I see my mother's presence in that part of the fairy tale coming to a close," said Barrett. He struggled a moment with thoughts of his parents before continuing. "But like all fairy tales, Storybook Farm will live on forever."