I imagine that now they are busy up in heaven enjoy each others company.
Ralph David Barry passed away peacefully at 3 p.m. on January 21, 2015 in Orange County, California with his daughters by his side. He blessed his family and friends for over 86 years. In the last months of his incredible life, with humor and courage, he was able to spend invaluable time with his children, grandchildren, and great-granddaughter.
He was born on October 19, 1928 in Taunton, Massachusetts to the late Thomas and Cora Barry. He grew up in Massachusetts with his six siblings Tom, Virginia, Janet, Mike, Betty and Judy. He was a World War II veteran, honorably serving in the United States Army until 1947. Thereafter, he attended and graduated from Bryant College in Rhode Island in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. He also obtained a Bachelor of Law from Blackstone School of Law in Chicago in 1959. He began working at Caltex - a Chevron/Texaco corporation - in 1952 and spent his entire career with Caltex, retiring in 1992 as a Manager of Treasury Operations.During his impressive career at Caltex, he traveled the world living in New York City, Pakistan, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Kenya, and Texas.
He was a great counselor and encouraged travel, learning, health and experiencing the joys of life. He cherished his family above all else. His children and grandchildren were everything to him, whom he supported absolutely. He was a devoted and irreplaceable father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He will be remembered for his generosity, knowledge, and humor. His legacy will live on through his family, undeniably his proudest achievement of all. He was an inspiration and will be deeply missed.
He is survived by his children Lynn (Jim) of Yorba Linda, California, Lee of Dallas, Texas and Su of San Diego, California; two grandchildren, Page (Adam) and Tara of Los Angeles, California, and one beautiful great-granddaughter, Emma. He is also survived by his brother Mike (Audrey) and sisters Virginia, Janet (George) and Judy (Len).
Funeral services will be held on April 11, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at Dighton Community Church, 2036 Elm Street, Dighton, Massachusetts 02715. Burial will follow at the Dighton Community Church Cemetery. After the ceremony, the family invites you to the Celebration of Life at Benjamin’s Restaurant, 698 Bay Street, Taunton, Massachusetts 02780 from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Tributes
Leave a tributeI imagine that now they are busy up in heaven enjoy each others company.
Anna and See Luan Foo
Laurelie (Walker) Hodgson
As I said Ralph was one of my initial mentors, even if the time was brief, in my formative Caltex years. While his sometimes laconic and somewhat gruff manner obscured it; I soon found out how kind and concerned he was about others. On the anecdote side, I had the pleasure to play golf with Ralph a number of times in the rarefied Kenya air and he tolerated my much lower degree of skill on the course….as long as I kept up! I used to joke that getting used to the higher altitude in Nairobi was a double challenge when playing with Ralph, he could endure less skill but slower play than his super-fast walk, address, and hit the ball, with no extra practice swings …not so much. We used to joke that if anyone pared the fastest golfer in Caltex, Ralph, with Bill Carroll, likely the slowest most deliberate one, it would be a disaster, thankfully the people paring folks in Caltex golf outings were smarter than that. But, as said scratching the surface of Ralph’s seemingly gruff exterior revealed a truly good guy and colleague who would as the old expression goes give you the shirt off his back if you were deserving, but at the same time didn't suffer foolishness easily.
So rest in peace Ralph, after good innings as the Brits say, even if with some impairments late in the round, I hope your tee times are not delayed and your rounds in the next phase are all to your high standard. Lee and Sue again my sincere condolences from one of your extended Caltex family that respected and admired your Dad, even when as said he could seem grumpy there was always good humor and good intention underneath that always showed itself when you scratched the surface and got to know his true nature. RIP Ralph.
I worked with your dad at Caltex and in recent times got together with him in Florida as he was not far away in Venice.
He was one of the good, regular guys and it was always enjoyable to meet up with him for golf, lunch and to reminisce about Caltex.
Sorry to hear the news,
Nick Florio
At his favorite bars in Singapore [there were many], Ralph always got bigger, colder beers and better chow ; Nothing against me, just a sign of respect and friendship!
May God bless and welcome Ralph Barry!!
Leave a Tribute
I imagine that now they are busy up in heaven enjoy each others company.
Anna and See Luan Foo