Joan Dymond Barnett of Orleans, Massachusetts passed away on May 23 after a long and wonderful life of family, travel and entertaining. Born to Merle and William Dymond in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1931, the family moved to Bellows Falls, Vermont in 1942 and founded Vermont Poultry before Joan began studies at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, graduating in 1953.
In 1955, while teaching kindergarten in Marblehead, Massachusetts, she met Michael Davis Barnett who was working for General Electric. They married a year later and moved to New Canaan, Connecticut where they raised four children on Cheese Spring Road; Lysandra Lincoln of Kennebunkport, Maine; Davis Barnett of Sherborn, Massachusetts; Zachary Barnett of Jackson, Wyoming, and; Berkeley Barnett of Lake Oswego, Oregon. All graduated from New Canaan High School.
In those years, while Michael built his business, she was the glue, the train conductor and the keeper of the clocks. It is with laughter her children recall her driving through town on errands with the four of them in the back, and Joan working herself into a fluster trying to reprimand whichever backseat miscreant was up to no good. The dog’s name always fell into the mix.
In 1980, Joan and Michael purchased their home in Orleans where they made many friends through the Orleans Yacht Club, the Dennis Playhouse and the Cape Cod Symphony. When Michael and his partners sold their company to Citibank in 1985, she immediately turned their attention to travel, visiting as much of the world as they could while they were young and in good health.
Surrounding themselves with a spirited crew from “the greatest generation,” they thrived in their retirement years, always with a full calendar of parties and engagements. Joan and Michael both loved to cook and entertain, as well as garden and, in those years, the commotion was usually found in the kitchen where projects would be underway involving fresh cut flowers or homegrown vegetables, or a smoked bluefish pate recipe that needed perfecting. For Joan, throwing memorable parties was an act of both necessity and love for her friends.
In 2008, after Michael died, she continued to entertain but as she said, “It wasn’t the same.” She survived breast cancer and skin cancer and two hip replacements, as well as numerous other maladies that failed to estimate the mettle of the Mayflower descendant. In the end, she succumbed to complications of the heart, either because of the miles or perhaps because of all her memories of those she adored and lost. “I just miss my friends,” she’d say. “I just miss my friends.”
She is survived by Lysandra (Sandi), husband Brian Lincoln and their children Gray and Lyssa; Davis, wife Leslie and their children Kristen and Brooke; Zachary and son Bohdan; and Berkeley, wife Michele and their daughters Bridget and Bella.
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