James J. Barron, Jr.

James John Joseph Barron Jr., died February 18, 2011 at the age of 92 . Jim was born in Hartford in March 1918 to the late James J and Marcella Corrigan Barron. Both sets of grandparents came from Ireland through Ellis Island and Jim was proud to be full blood Irish. He graduated from Buckley High School in the middle of the depression. At that time, there were no jobs and long lines of people looking for food. The watch maker that Jim's dad used Mr. Postma needed an apprentice and Jim felt lucky and grateful to get the job. When the War To End All Wars broke out, Pratt and Whitney hired him based on this experience. He quickly advanced to making gauges. The close work he did involved measuring tolerances in a constant temperature room, cooling his hands off in airplane fuel so the heat of his hands would not affect the tolerances. The highly skilled, precise work he did at P+W gave him deferments from the military but he felt a strong need to serve. So he secretly enlisted in the Merchant Marine. They advised him to get a hernia fixed before they would take him. He did just that 10 days in the hospital, but War Manpower caught on. Jim was one of a handful of people in the country who could do his job. They said that he was irreplaceable and he was not permitted to serve. It bothered him all his life that he had not seen combat. After the war, Jim worked at Parker Stamps and formed a stock club, of which he was very proud. He then moved on to C.H.Dutton Stamp and eventually purchased that company all set in motion by Mr.Postma. A life-long practical joker, not even family was safe from his pranks. He kept the first few lines of jokes on a scrap of paper in his "file cabinet" shirt pocket to help him remember jokes. Jim retired at age 67. During his early retirement, he and his wife, Carol, spent every February in some warm location: Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Florida. As part of the 1940's YMCA program to standardize swimming instruction and reduce the hazards of the sport, Jim was a lifeguard and swimming instructor. And he swam 40 laps three times a week up until his stroke. Jim Barron is survived by his wife of 63 years, Carol Knight Barron; his son, Brad Barron; his daughter, Shirlee Grabko and her husband, Bill Manning; his grandson, Tobias Kaplan and wife, Carey Kaplan; his great grandson, Bonham Kaplan; his former longtime tenant, Patty Sexton; his friends at Cornerstone Pool: Bob Howard, Dennis, Tom, and Sam. Jim has outlived all of his life-long friends. Graveside services will be held Tuesday Feb. 22nd at 11 a.m. at Mt. St. Benedict Cemetery, 1 Cottage Grove Rd., Bloomfield, CT. Memorial donations may be made to Brookdale Place, 22 Simsbury Road, West Hartford, CT 06117 where his wife resides.