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Posts Tagged ‘ROBERT AVERY BARRETT, ROBERT AVERY BARRETT obituary, Funeralworks Obituary, Douglass Funeral Service’

PostHeaderIcon ROBERT AVERY BARRETT of NORTHAMPTON, MA, March 31, 1932 – September 25, 2015

 

Robert Avery Barrett died September 25, 2015 in Leeds after battling ALS. He was born March 31, 1932, the only child of Doris Pierce of Amherst and H. Avery Barrett of Brattleboro, VT. He was pre-deceased by his son, Robert Avery Barrett, II, in 1978, and by his former wife, Judith Anderson, in June 2015, whom he still loved. They supported each other as they both fought the same disease. He is survived by two daughters, Melanie Barrett Freitag and her husband, Christopher of Hadley and Pamela Barrett Lasser and her husband, Philip, of New York City, and four granddaughters, Melissa, Rebecca, Valerie, and Alexandra.

 

Bob received a BA from Colgate and a masters in Russian Literature from Columbia. He later earned a PhD while living in California. His love for languages inspired him to learn French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and German. During the Korean War he served in Alaska as a specialist in the army in covert operations [and monitored Russian Communications]. He loved to run; he completed several marathons and on his lunch hour he would “run flights of stairs.” He ran up the Empire State Building, 86 floors and 1576 steps, multiple times and he came in second in his age category in some of the competitions.

 

Bob loved words. His father gave him his first dictionary for his ninth birthday, and he was a reader of English, Latin, French, Russian, and German dictionaries throughout his life. He had a great joi de vivre. He loved people and talked with everyone he met; he never slipped into a room quietly.

 

Bob had a lifelong interest in spiritual growth, studying, finding meaning in, and practicing a variety of spiritual disciplines. He loved listening to and composing music, and was accomplished on the clarinet. He inspired his grandchildren to play instruments and his granddaughter Rebecca began playing the clarinet on one he gave her. [He was connected to all his grandchildren through music.] He was an avid photographer.

 

For most of his life, Bob was an editor for several journals and organizations, including the Statistical Bulletin at Metropolitan Life, the Natural Resource and Defense Council, and Science and Medicine. In the 1990s, when he lived in Hadley, he worked at Hopkins Academy in the Resource room helping students who were struggling with their academic work.

 

In 2004, Bob moved to Ikaria, Greece where he composed symphonies, enjoyed hiking, and appreciated the freedom he found being away from what he felt was a deteriorating American Political System. In 2012, he was forced to return to the United States for medical care as his ALS became more pronounced.

 

Bob had a long and varied life and will be remembered by his family for teaching them to live lives of gratitude. His mantra, “Always and Everywhere to give thanks to God for our infinite blessings,” was all embracing and included nature, birds, animals, music, people, friendship, and exercise.

 

Bob’s family would like to thank the staff at Highview for their loving care. A celebration of Bob’s life is being planned for Friday evening, October 9, 2015. His family requests people perform Random Acts of Kindness in his memory. Donations can be made to the ALS Society.

 

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