Richard Michael “Mike” Barry Died 2014

BARRY, FINNEY

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 2/13/2014 at 10:55:22

Mapleton Press
13 February 2014

Richard Michael “Mike” Barry died Nov. 3 in Sunnyvale, Calif. Mike grew up in Mapleton. At age 7, he began working at his father’s Ford dealership, Barry Motor Company. His older brother, Pat, and his younger brother, Bernie, also worked there, and they spent Saturdays sweeping floors, washing cars, changing oil, sewing seat covers, and eventually, returning fixed up or delivering brand new, shiny cars to their owners, taking the long way, every single time. His sister, Rose Marie, didn’t work at the garage, don’t be silly; she was too busy causing trouble and blaming the boys.

As a youngster, Mike played the piano, the organ, the violin, and the trumpet. He played and sang at church and at school. As a grownup, he played the hi fi, the reel to reel, the 8-track, the cassette player, the CD player (especially Pressure 4-5), and the radio. And he liked his Beethoven and Tchaikovsky at teenager volume levels. In retirement he treated himself to a limo and a pipe organ.

Mike majored in marketing at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. He served in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s. He was stationed in Hawaii and lived in a house with some other officers across the street from the Pacific Ocean. He loved the Army.

He earned an MBA at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He funded his graduate education by playing the stock market. One of his favorite things to do was “go look at cars.”

On Jan. 20, 1968, he married Sally Jane Finney. At first, they lived in Fort Dodge, and they were soon joined by Jean, Mary, and Kate. Mike accepted a short-term assignment from the Sisters of Mercy to close their Red Bluff hospital, St. Elizabeth’s, which at that time was on Main Street, across from Sacred Heart Church, then moved his family to Red Bluff. On their second Thanksgiving in Red Bluff, Mark David was born, the fourth Barry, and only boy.

Mike ran St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, now located on Sr. Mary Columba Drive, for 17 years, and then ran the Plumas District Hospital in Quincy, Calif., for nine years. During his tenure, Plumas District Hospital was named one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the United States.

In 1992, between St. Elizabeth’s and Plumas District Hospital, he took care of his dear Sally, as she died.

In retirement, he was back at St. Elizabeth’s as a volunteer and chaplain (he was the oldest student in U.C. Davis’s chaplain program) and volunteer, giving communion to the sick, saying prayers with the dying as well as the healing, assisting families overwhelmed by sudden tragedies or worried by possible outcomes, in every way he could think of.

Mike is survived by his aunt, Angela Ann Hurley, of Westin, Fla.; siblings Patrick F. Barry of Woodridge, Ill., Rose Marie Wolden of Scottsdale, Ariz., G. Bernard Barry of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; his children Jean Marie Barry of Arlington, Va., Mary K. Barry of Elk Grove, Calif., her partner Matt Lovoya Powell and his children, Hayden Lovoya and Kellen Jackson; Kathryn Ann Bartow of Portola Valley, Calif., and her wife, Nicole Townsend Bartow, and their children, Dylan Drew, Evan Kai, and Avery Jane; Mark David Barry of Aliso Viejo, Calif., and his wife, Courtney Weiser Barry, and their children Finley Doren, Tate Oliver, and Casey Michael, who was born on Nov. 5, 2013. Mike was preceded in death by his wife, Sally Jane, in 1992.

A rosary was said at Sacred Heart Church in Red Bluff, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at Sacred Heart Church on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 11 a.m.

A Memorial Mass will be held in Mapleton at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Saturday, March 15, at 10 a.m. with burial in Danbury at the Catholic Cemetery (formally St. Patrick’s) and a lunch back in Mapleton, in the church basement to follow. After the lunch, friends are invited up to the Barry home for Hot Fudge Sundaes with all the trimmings.

On Sunday, March 16, at 10 a.m., there will be a Mass at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Neb.

In lieu of flowers donations may be given to Mercy High School or Sacred Heart School in Red Bluff, Calif., or to the American Cancer Society.

Monona Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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