Thomas Everett Barry

On the evening of December 11, 2025, Thomas E. Barry, 97, of Commerce Township, Michigan, silently and gently breathed his last breath and slipped the bonds of Earth and began his final flight, his first without the aid of an airplane. This event happened at Westlake Health Campus, also in Commerce Twp.

Tom was preceded in death by his wife, Bernice Galloway Barry, of Waterford, MI; his parents, Theodore Leonard Barry and Violet Gertrude Lechner Barry of Union Lake, MI; his sister Grace Barry Sewell of Detroit, MI; his brother Harold T. Barry of Detroit, MI; his sister Elinore Barry Wadland of Redford, MI; his brother Theodore L. Barry, Jr., of Albuquerque, NM; his brother Willard H. Barry of North Hollywood, CA; and his brother Robert E. Barry of Detroit, MI. He is survived and lovingly remembered by his children, Robert T. Barry and his wife, Angela, of Clinton Twp., MI; Raymond C. Barry and his wife, Diane, of Commerce Twp., MI; Richard C. Barry of Danville, IN; Carol J. Hulsey and her husband, David, of Orlando, FL; plus their children and grandchildren.

As a teenager, Tom performed miscellaneous duties for one of the flight services at the Pontiac, Michigan, Municipal Airport in exchange for flying lessons. Thus began an interest in airplanes and flying that continued throughout most of his life.

In March 1946, shortly after his 18th birthday, Tom joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the United States Constabulary (occupation troops) in post-war Germany. This experience ignited in him an interest in foreign lands and languages. While in the Army, Tom was trained as a radio operator and learned Morse code. After his service he became an avid amateur ham radio operator (call sign K8PJF). He always enjoyed the hobby of communicating by radio and telegraph key with similar hobbyists throughout the United States and in foreign lands.

In June 1952, Tom survived an airplane crash in Independence Twp., MI, when the undercarriage of his Piper Cub crop duster snagged a recently installed electrical power line that had not been there on a previous pesticide application. The resulting crash into a potato field put Tom in Pontiac General Hospital and cut the electrical power to about 200 homes. The plane was totally destroyed; however, Tom returned to flying after his recovery.

For most of his life and up to retirement, he worked in the maintenance department at Pontiac Municipal Airport (now renamed Oakland County International Airport). There, he also always kept one private airplane or another tied down and waiting for a flight.

Tom’s other hobbies included camping on wooded property he owned near Lake City, Michigan. Travel, too, remained in his blood as he returned multiple times to Germany and other European countries for pleasure.

In accordance with Tom’s wishes, there will be no funeral. Following cremation, his remains will be placed in the same niche as his wife Bernice’s at Christian Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Rochester Hills, MI.