This is Riley's speech for Dan's Celebration of Life.  For all that were there you remember how difficult it was for him but straight from the heart.  Thank you Riley for your memories of Uncle Dan.

POKER

Ayden and I were playing Go Fish one day and we were betting fake money and Uncle Dan walked over to me and said what are you playing?  Here let me teach you how to play poker. Uncle Dan said come with me and we went up stairs and went in their closet and there were about 15 decks of cards and a box of real poker chips and I said what is that and he said this is the manly stuff.  So he taught me how to play texas holdem. That was so much fun and me and all the grandkids started playing it until we were so tired that we couldn’t play it any more.  So a couple of years later I got my own poker set for Christmas and every time Uncle Dan was in town we would have a poker party.


               Pranks

Fart machine

One day Lauren and I were playing and Uncle Dan walked over to us and said follow me and we went up stairs and got a fart machine out of his room and he put it in my pocket and said walk over to Marcia and act like you are tieing your shoe.  When I did Uncle Dan pressed the button and I started laughing so hard and Lauren and I just played with it for days.


    Roaches

I remember when Uncle Dan always had all the roaches and we would go around putting them in peoples drinks and the grownups would be screaming at us but to us kids it was so funny.  And now every time you look in CiCi’s drawers there’s always fake roaches in there.   



Hand Shake

One day I came into CiCi’s house and shook hands with Uncle Dan and I was talking to someone else at the same time.  I let go of his hand and Uncle Dan grabbed my arm and said what was that?  And I said a hand shake. Then he said shake my hand and look me in the eyes and say your name to where they can hear you and then say a pleasure to meet you or nice to meet you.  That’s a hand shake.

One of the last things I remember was after Uncle Dan was sick I walked in and was saying hi to everyone else and he said come over here Riley and he said don’t worry about all of them come say hi to me first.

I really miss you Uncle Dan.

As Billy was reflecting today on Danny’s birthday, he tells me of another entertaining antic of our lovable prankster, cousin Danny.   It seems while Danny was attending college in Long Island, he and his fraternity brothers decided it would be fun to venture to the prestigious Copacabana Nightclub and snatch the cap off the head of the doorman. Of course, Danny was the designated “snatcher” who was to run to a group of his fraternity brothers stationed at the street corner.  The fraternity brothers were going to conveniently delay the doorman until Danny had safely made his getaway. With all the players in place, Danny made the snatch and ran to the street corner with the doorman giving chase close behind. Obviously his fraternity brothers did not know him well enough, because they seemed surprised that Danny had actually snatched the hat – so surprised that they forgot to slow the doorman down as they raced by them. The chase ended with the doorman capturing Danny and retrieving his cap.  Of course, as no one could stay angry with Danny for long, the doorman sent him on his way and made no trouble for his thievery as he had his iconic doorman’s hat safely back on his head. I wonder if Danny thought about pledging to a more dependable fraternity….

 Much love and happy "Danny" memories to Marcia, all his family and many friends. 

The Barrett family gathered today to remember a few of the adventures we shared with our nephew and cousin, Danny.  I hope you enjoy.

Billy shared the story of their early years –probably around the age of 9, when Billy and Danny were caught by the local law enforcement office of Ravenswood in the wee hours of the morning climbing back up the steps of Aunt Molly’s house. The officer asked the boys what they had been doing. Being the quick-witted youngster, Danny responded that they had been out looking for their lost dog.  The officer was doubting their story and they woke Aunt Molly to verify. When the officer told her the boys said they had been out looking for their dog, Aunt Molly said “Oh yeah, must have gotten lose again.” Obviously there was no dog but Aunt Molly saved the boys that night. They did spend the rest of the weekend helping Aunt Molly in her garden for their penitence.

Then there was the trip to Canada with Aunt Molly and Aunt Nonie. Something about the boys suits flying out of the car-top carrier and never finding them. Diana still remembers the yellow dress and hat she left on the back of the door and Aunt Molly wouldn’t go back to look for the dress and hat but spent lots of time looking for those darn suits for the boys that flew out. 

Danny and Billy got to experience fly fishing in Canada too. Danny got them into a canoe race on the river with some Canadians. Not sure who won the race but honing those canoeing skills came in handy years later when somehow Billy and Danny were talked into taking the shark bait out for a Florida fisherman. Once the boys spotted the fins following their canoe, they gently lowered themselves down into the bottom of the canoe for a bit more stabilization for the ride back into shore. Yes, sometimes the boys were a bit gullible.

Then there was the night when Danny and Billy decided to take their BB guns down to the culvert on Keystone Avenue and shoot at cars driving by. All was quite fun until that one car turned his lights and sirens on and backed up looking for the culprits. The boys flattened themselves into the grass and held their breath until he drove away. Another evening foiled.

The stories flowed of the Danny driving the “brown turd” station wagon and Billy driving his Barracuda and the night the card game landed Danny in another bit of trouble – something to do with the grocery store manager contributing to underage drinking. Imagine that. One day when Billy asked Uncle Jim where Danny was, Uncle Jim handed him a paper with a phone number on it and instructed Billy to call Danny at that number. Billy came back after trying the call and told Uncle Jim he must have written the number down wrong. Uncle Jim asked him who answered the phone. Billy said it was the Marion County Policy Department. Uncle Jim said “No, that’s the right number.”

One night,  Mom and Dad Barrett were playing cards at Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim’s. Dad Barrett called home to make sure Billy was safe and sound at home since the local law enforcement officer had just brought Cousin Danny home under-the-influence. Of course Billy pleaded his ignorance of the whole event.

There was the evening when the Knights of Winding Ridge, a name the boys gave to their band of merry pranksters, drove through the neighborhoods collecting the reflectors from all the driveways. Danny was actually innocent in this action as he was not present during the collection. The reflectors, however, ended up being strategically placed in the Bush’s front yard – probably a collection of at least 100 reflectors.  I’m sure Uncle Jim was delighted the next morning.

Debbie remembered the summer that Danny spent with the family back in Indianapolis. This was the summer when Billy was first gone to serve his Army stent. Debbie remembered how comforting it was to have Danny there to fill the void. She even let him drive her little MG around and remembered on one errand they ran having little Dennis with them and people thought Dennis was their son.

Danny’s adventures continued as he attended IU in Bloomington. There was that one evening when he and companions thought the billboards needed to come down around town. With chainsaws in hand, they set about accomplishing their mission. There was that one mishap when the billboard came down smashing Danny underneath it. Seems they had to retrieve a few extra friends to come to the scene to assist in lifting the billboard off Danny. He escaped with only a few scratches and a broken pair of glasses. When Billy saw him the next day, he seemed to be wearing those taped together glasses as a kind of trophy from his evening’s escapade.

Our younger generation representative, Jonathan Tobin, son of Denise Barrett-Tobin, joined us today too to add his recollection of a visit with Danny. He remembered back In 1996, when the Tobin family on their way to Jacksonville stopped to visit with Danny. They were sitting down at the swimming pool when Danny came out to the pool and opened a Bud light and plopped it down between Matthew and Jonathan and said “Here you go boys.” The boys were a whole 6 and 9 years old. Oh…for the good ole days.

We hope these fun memories bring a smile.  Danny certainly provided lots of smiles for us. We will forever miss him.

Uncle Bill  and Phyllis Barrett, Cousins Billy and Carol Barrett, Cousin Debbie Barrett, Cousin Diana Barrett-Hay,and even 2nd cousin,  Jonathan Tobin.