Barry Johnson

In the early morning hours of Thursday, January 23rd, 2025, Barry Johnson passed away peacefully at home, as he wanted, with his wit and humor intact.  

He was born in 1927 in Amsterdam, NY to Sam and Mabel Johnson. In the depths of the Great Depression, the family moved to New York City where his father found work selling shoes. He  recalled never feeling poor and spoke of a happy life with extended family and friends in the  neighborhood and of adventures with a mischievous uncle. The family later moved to Syracuse,  NY where Barry eventually entered Syracuse University. In 1945, after a year studying electrical engineering, he joined the Navy and was placed in an electronics training program after boot camp. The war ended and he returned to school, completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering.  

His career as an electronics design engineer began with designing circuitry for Sonar systems and  grew to design and development of instruments and systems for military, aerospace, medical and industrial applications. His technical expertise spanned the fields of radar and sonar data processing, communications, computer-based control systems and medical electronics.  

In the late 1950’s he did his first work in the field of analog computers, designing logic and control circuitry for anti-jam radar and communications system. At Raytheon Company he supervised  electrical design groups responsible for development of radar video processing and detection circuitry and automatic monitoring and test and fault isolation associated with several radar systems. He used integrated circuits to design the logic for a special purpose digital computer and data processing system associated with the NAS air traffic control system.  

As the Director of Engineering at American Science and Engineering he supervised all engineering design and fabrication functions, growing the organization to 250 employees. They developed  fabrication facilities to NASA workmanship standards and procedures and created and manufactured instruments for experiments conducted on Skylab, Explorer class satellites, and in the Harvard College Observatory.  

Over 30 years later, his career culminated with the conception and design of a turnkey computer data processing system which enabled effective planning and control of orders in a complex  manufacturing process.  

He enjoyed his engineering work immensely. He knew he wanted to be an engineer from a very young age. His professional path was focused from the time he was a young and curious high  school student and always included an element of humor, such as the time he and his life-long  friend Sid Greenberg used a megaphone to announce he was piloting a GE test car with him  steering from the passenger seat and Sid on the floor of the car operating the accelerator and brake pedals out of view of passersby.  

When he was 15, his closest friend Ray Weisbond introduced him to alpine skiing at a tiny hill near Syracuse. When the two lived in New York City after graduating from college, they spent their  winter weekends skiing. Every few weeks they would ask one another “Do you think we can make it?”, getting up the nerve to drive to a new ski area further north, until they finally made it to Stowe, Vermont. In the mid 1950’s, he and his friend Bob Shoeline built a ski house in Stowe Hollow. Not long after, Shoey moved to California and sold his share of the house to Barry, and shortly thereafter he met his first wife Diana while skiing at Stowe.  

Diana and he raised four children, Eric, Karen, Debbie, and Michael in Wellesley, MA. They all became avid skiers making the trip each weekend and holiday to Stowe and enjoyed all the outdoor activities that Barry loved so much. After his divorce from Diana, his daughter Karen remained close to him, and to his delight moved to Morristown with her husband in 2023.  

Stowe brought many lifelong friends from all over the eastern US and Canada with the same sense of adventure. Barry tended to see things in life as a challenge to a positive outcome rather than a problem. When Interstate 89 was in its early days of construction, he was not the only one to test the waters by sneaking on the partially completed southern portion. Barry was lucky enough to  escape getting caught whereas Dave Coffin ended up stuck and sleeping in his car overnight until  the construction crew could tow him out the next morning.  

As much as he valued his work, he equally valued the joy and adventure of time experiencing the outdoors with friends in all seasons. Winters were for alpine skiing in Vermont, Europe and  helicopter skiing in the Bugaboos in Canada when it was the newest alpine adventure. As a very early member of the Stowe Tennis club, (before there was a clubhouse) and the Middle Aged  Motorcycle Club, warmer weather was for tennis, motorcycle enduros and canoe trips.  

No matter the setting or the crowd, he most enjoyed time socializing. Gatherings of all sizes brought out his charm and sense of humor, from the many parties and Saturday night dinners out  in Stowe to his daughter’s surprise 40th birthday party and a crowd of “kids” over 70 years younger.  He relished in conversation and sharing stories on topics from the latest technology to exciting  experiences in sporting adventures. He truly had ideas and accomplishments that parallelled both young and old acquaintances, and he always surprised the younger crowd with his open-minded  view of current events. His quick wit was the telltale sign of how well read he was on numerous topics.  

He was equally impressed with pursuits of women and shared his respect without hesitation.  From his mother Mable to his sister Joan and cousin Jackie, the women of his youth were cherished family members with impressive intellects and moral character. He also found great joy and pride in witnessing his children’s skill in athletic pursuits and adventures similar to those he enjoyed. Mountain bike racing in the early 1990’s had many parallels to Motorcycle Enduro racing in the late 1960’s.  

He met Linora “Linnie” Henry in 1990, and they were married in 2000. Barry & Linnie were  inseparable, and Linnie quickly came to love tennis and outdoor adventures as much as Barry.  They and their friends always had plans for trips near and far. Bike rides around Stowe, mud season-avoidance vacations in Palm Desert, a sightseeing trip to Egypt, trips to visit friends in Sanibel, FL and Tiburon, CA, and family in Tennessee and Colorado. Activities with close friends always included lunch. He and they loved good food. (We firmly believe he would not have lived past 96 had he not discovered the desserts at Two Sons Bakery).  

Barry’s marriage to Linora also brought the profound joy that came with being a step-father to Linora’s daughters, Lisa Jacobs and Beth Levinsky, a Father-in-Law to their husbands David and  Michael, and a grandfather to their sons, Connor and Quinn Jacobs, and Nicholas and Jack Levinsky. In addition to granddaughters Sarah and Alexis Lensing, Thanksgiving gatherings brought  the complete family Barry cherished.  

He lived a rich and full life and enjoyed sharing the best of it with family and friends. Nothing pleased him more than the knowledge that his daughter Karen had the same appreciation he did for the many pursuits he prized.  

A Celebration of Barry’s Life will be held at the Ski Museum in Stowe on Wednesday, March 19th at 1:00pm.

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