Michael Barry:  

Life I attended Carpenter Elementary, Central Intermediate, and Midland HS. Before my last year of high school in Midland was to begin, I spent the summer of 1962 working at a dairy farm in Wallingford, VT. I convinced my single parent Mom to let me finish high school there. I worked on that farm daily while attending school and then after graduating I headed back to Midland to work. Since I spent most of my school years in Midland and only one year in Vermont, I kept a listing in this Classmates web site for both schools. After high school graduation, I worked at Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, MI, then attended Central Michigan Univ. until joining the US Army in 1969. I served for 4 years. My basic training was at Ft Knox, KY and my AIT (Advanced Individual Training) was at Ft Bliss, TX. Duty bases included a Nike-Hercules Missle Battery in Danvers, MA and a Nike-Hercules Missile Battery Headquarters near Baumholder in Southwest Germany. I was a radar operator in MA and was the Administrative Specialist working for a LTC, Major, Captain, and Command Sergeant Major in S-1 in Germany. I married Nancy in 1968 and am still married to her. We had no children. Nancy was a 7th grade school teacher for 35 years and retired in July 2003. After the Army, we settled in the greater Newburyport, MA area in 1973. I attended an Electronics School in Boston and later started employment at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge. BBN was a pioneer in developing what is now known as the Internet. BBN was bought out by GTE and then we were later spun off into Genuity as GTE and Bell Atlantic became Verizon. I was the Department Manager (Prototype Production) of a group that assembled equipment for AOL and our Genuity Fiber Network. In Feb 2003, Genuity, or what was left of it, was bought out by Level 3 (an internet communication company). I took early retirement at that time and have not looked back! I coached youth baseball teams between 1975 and 2010 and until 2017 I was still active as our League as Registration and Schedules Officer. I am retired from those tasks now, but can keep an eye on things via the internet from Florida. Retirement is here. We bought property in the greater Albuquerque, NM area in the summer of 2000 and will spend some of our leisure time there. (Update: October 2008...We sold that land. It did not fit in with our future plans). We plan on doing a lot of traveling in our Class B RV (Roadtrek). Hopefully we will have friends around the country - saving on motel costs!!! In February 2006, we bought a small place in an over 55 retirement community (The Hamptons) in Auburndale, FL in order to enjoy the life of a "snowbird" for the winters. We have been traveling around visiting various FL State parks during the weekdays - too crowded during the weekends! We take our trail bicycles and keep up with the exercises. In April of 2006 we spent 5 weeks touring the Southwest - including a dust storm in Monument Valley, AZ. Big Update: August 2009. We sold our home and land in West Newbury, MA and took up residency in Auburndale, Florida (35 minutes from Disney World...smile). Taxes (income and real estate) too high in MA. We may be spending summers in New England in our Class B RV (Roadtrek) or may be traveling to the West to visit with our relatives in NM, NV, UT, OR, and WA. I was a Director for 4 years, President for 7 years, Vice President for 2 years and Secretary for 2 years in our community's Homeowners Association (828 homes). I am President of our Hamptons Educational Foundation (helping financially needy, academically qualified, and personally motivated to succeed high school graduates). That Foundation raised greater than $775,000 between 2007 and 2026. I am currently Secretary of our local Vietnam Veterans Association Chapter 1040. Membership is for Vietnam Era time frame veterans. I also spend time working as the sound tech for Nancy's singing group and also our community chorus. I use a Mac - what else compares?...grin. In fact, Nancy's trio has been asked to sing the National Anthem at three of the Detroit Tigers Spring Training games. I also do some disc jockey work here for some of community dances and of course our community's line dancing activities. I attended the WHS Class of 1963 50th reunion in 2013. That was a hoot...unfortunately only a little less than half of our remaining living original graduating class of 42 students were able to attend. (Updates)...I attended my class's 60th graduation anniversary last July 8th, 2023. 10 of us were able to catch up on the past 10 years since our previous get-together. There would have been 11 of us, however Trudy experienced an issue with a positive Covid test that morning and thus she was not able to attend. I left to return home on the 9th just as the storms and floods hit Vermont. I did also attend our classes' 61st reunion in July 2024. And would you believe...another bad rain storm/floods hit Vermont again this July the day after I left to drive back to FL? I stopped in WV on my way back home to visit with an Army buddy from our time in Germany. I have been a "chaperone" on two Honor Flights for WW II and Korean War veterans to Washington D.C. This is a very moving experience for both the vets and the chaperones. One one trip I got the chance to meet veteran and former Senator Bob Dole. On good days, he greeted visitors at the WW II Memoria...Expand for more