Fa, you will be missed.
Love, 
Pengy

Everyone else:
Thank you all for the kind words.
-Lesley

CROSSING THE BAR  by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
 and one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
 When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
  Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out of the boundless deep
   Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
  When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
  The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
  When I have crost the bar.
-----------
This poem seems to fit just right our friend who has crosed the bar. 
Gerry and Steve Ricci (Arlington, MA)

I will miss Billy. As a sailor and electrical tinkerer, Bill shared his knowledge with me and his skills. A good guy. My condolences to all that he lighted their lives.

We have so many wonderful memories of you Bill. You have made such a positive difference in our lives. We will forever carry your happy soul within our hearts and from the bottom of ours, we will miss you terribly. Here's to you Captain!

I am so saddened for your lost.
I am so glad I got to see Bill at our reuion last year..I will always remember his boyish smile...

So sorry to hear of your loss. Pull from his treasured memories the joy and love  he has brought to all.

Offering our deepest condolences during this difficult time.

Bill Barron was in our graduating class of  1961, Scituate High (MA). He is certainly not the first of our class to leave us, but his departure touched me the most. I admired Billy because he had personality traits that were admirable. He was a quiet, unassuming guy who never bragged about his accomplishments or “tooted” his own horn. He just quietly went about the business of being the best he could be at the things he liked best.

Two of those things were hockey and sailing. I knew about the former when we were in high school and learned about the latter just recently. We  (non hockey players/fans) would go to the Weymouth? rink to watch Bill play for Scituate. He was an excellent player and continued playing after he graduated, into his forties. You could tell he loved the game from the quiet intensity with which he played. Bill later had to have both hips replaced as the price he had to pay for this particular passion.

I lost touch with Bill after graduation, but would think of him every so often as someone whom I would like to emulate. Eventually I caught up with him at our 45th reunion after we had convinced him he needed to attend. He showed up with his wife Maryanne and had the famous Barron, “ear to ear” grin on the entire evening. Once again I lost touch, but when we began organizing our 50th, we went on a Barron search again. We located him in Duxbury and again encouraged him to attend. He vacillated somewhat, but finally committed to attending.

Just prior to the 50th, I received a phone call (or maybe an email) asking me to meet him in the Bar Harbor ME area where he would be sailing with his beautiful sailboat, Arigato, in July (he saw on this blog that I would be in Bar Harbor in July). I immediately agreed, because I wanted to see him again and have only had several opportunities to sail in my life. I met him in Southwest Harbor and we had a grand day sail. His boat was beautiful and he regaled me with sailing stories as we partook of some “sailor's brew”.

We parted ways and knew we would see each other at the reunion. At the reunion, he had a ball. You could see it in his eyes. He attended all three events and was constantly involved in intense discussions with various classmates. He offered to pick up several out- of- town classmates who had no transportation and gave them a ride to the reunion events (Marianne and Eileen).

After the reunion weekend was over, Billy invited myself and my partner Karen on a sailing trip to Cuttyhunk, an island which I had never seen, even though I had lived here in Mass.  for most of my 68 years. We readily agreed and had one of the best times of our lives. During the trip over and back, Billy related all of his sailing exploits, including actually winning the famous Fugawi race one year. He also related sailing all the way up to Nova Scotia in an annual race. You could see that his love of sailing had substituted for his former love of hockey.

We continued to see Billy the rest of the summer, right into September and October. He was complaining about one of his hips/legs and how it was bothering him and that he would have to have it looked at. We left on our 2nd annual travel trailer tour of the U.S. and we called Billy every so often. The last time we called, he didn't return the call and I began to wonder if he was having trouble with his hip. Finally we got in touch with Maryanne and she gave us the bad news that he was seriously ill. That was only about 2 weeks or less ago. He has been constantly on our minds during that period and we called as often as we dared. Wednesday we got the news. I thought about Bill the entire day and was frustrated that we are in Nevada and would not be able to pay final respects in person.

I would just like to end this tribute with these words-

Bill Barron, Sailorman, sail away on heavenly breezes and if any other sailboats get in your path up there, give them the old quick tack/jibe/hipcheck and we know you will be forever sailing in the front of the pack!

Bill Barron, fair haired All-American Boy, forever young, we will not soon forget you and the example you set for us all.

Hawk Hickman and Karen DiPietro

RIP Billy Barron.
So happy to have spent time with you last summer on our adventure to cuttyhunk and meeting Mare!
Please watch over us.
Karen DiPietro

OBITUARY

William F. Barron Jr.

August 25, 1943 – May 15, 2012

Richardson-Gaffey Funeral Home

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