Alan Frederick Barney

Alan “Al” Barney passed peacefully in the early morning this Monday, July 1, reunited at last with his beloved wife, Carol.

Al was born on February 18, 1939 to Fred and Harriet Barney of Stamford, Ct.  He and his younger brothers Carl and David grew up in Noroton Heights where they practiced music, mischief, and mayhem. Al attended Worcester Polytechnic in Massachusetts where he met his future bride, Carol Makszin, at a mixer at Becker College. The pair married in 1959 and had their first child, Peter, while Al was serving his active duty in the US Navy on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. They returned to Darien, CT where they had two more children, Kathleen and Lisa, while Al worked at American Cyanimid and attended night school on scholarship at Bridgeport Engineering Institute. In 1969, Al received his officer’s commission as an Ensign. After receiving his degree, Al worked as a traffic engineer at Automatic Signal Corp in Norwalk.  He also moved his growing family to Bethel, CT and in the following years he and Carol had five more children: Melanie, Kimberly, Mark, Christine, and Michelle. In 1976, he left Automatic Signal and opened a music store, The Music Man, in downtown Bethel. In the 1980’s, Al returned to engineering and worked first at T-Bar in Norwalk and then at Baldwin Technologies in Shelton. Al retired from the Navy in June of 1980 as Chief Warrant Officer 04 after 20 years of service.

Al loved trying new things and adopted many hobbies over the years including ham radio, photography, woodworking, gardening, golf, bridge and, above all else, model railroading. He also had a deep commitment to St. Mary’s Church in Bethel where he played the organ for over 40 years and where he and Carol participated in the parish pre-cana counseling program where they met so many of their nearest and dearest friends. He also became very active at the Bethel Senior Center until he finally began to lose a long and hard-fought battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Al will be truly missed by his family, friends, fellow parishioners, and a great part of the town of Bethel. He was predeceased by his parents, his son Mark, his brother David, his granddaughter Rhoda, and his wife Carol. He is survived by his brother Carl and his wife Anita of Southbury, his uncle John Birdsell of Rehoboth Beach, MD, and his children Peter, Kathy (Ciuci), Lisa, Melanie (Brooks), Kimberly (Attridge), Christine (Haas) and Michelle (Saucier) as well as 15 grandchildren.

Friends and Family my pay their respects on Friday, July 5, from 5pm – 7pm at Bethel Funeral Home, 215 Greenwood Avenue, Bethel.  A mass of Christian burial will begin at 11:30am on Saturday, July 6, at St. Mary’s Church, Dodgingtown Road. Interment will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Route 53, Bethel.

A full online obituary is available at hullfuneralservice.com.

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