Roy Barker

Penncrest was a breath of fresh air after spending K-8 grade in a small private school.  Freedom and exposure to real people!  It really was a formative experience, thanks in large part to many teachers and administrators.  Of particular note, I well remember lunch time discussions in Mr. Stone’s back room and Thursday evening sessions in Mr. Simon’s basement.

After graduating from Penncrest, I attended Bucknell University where I earned (by the skin of my teeth) a degree in electrical engineering.  Following graduation in 1964 I spent a couple of years working for Philadelphia Electric Company in Coatesville.  I married my first wife, Susan, in 1966, and soon thereafter we moved to Long Island where I took a job as a submarine sonar field engineer with Sperry Gyroscope Company.  We spent a couple of years in Hawaii where our first child, Doug, was born.  From there we moved back to Long Island, and thence to Groton, CT where our second child, Kirsten, was born.  In Connecticut I took a job with General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division, and earned a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Connecticut.  In 1975, Susan and I were divorced, and I moved to Charleston, WV where I took a job with Union Carbide Corporation as a Special Instrumentation Development Engineer.

In 1976 I married Lissa, my present wife and the love of my life!  She was living in Connecticut and I in West Virgina, so Ma Bell (the phone company at that time) and USAir made out like bandits until Lissa left the U.S. Navy to move down to WV, where she taught nursing at Marshall University and West Virginia University.  (Think about this; lots of people live together for a while and then get married; we were married for a while, and then decided to live together.)  Lissa brought with her a beautiful daughter, Jennifer.  Very shortly after that Doug and Kirsten came to make our family complete.  A very special time in our lives was the year that Doug and Jennifer were seniors in high school and we had two exchange students – Ramón from Spain, and Fred from France – also in the senior class.  Five teenagers in the house made for an exciting year.  In 1986, after the kids had all left the nest, I joined Union Carbide’s corporate Health, Safety and Environmental Audit group as an environmental auditor, and traveled extensively, both in the U.S. and overseas.

When Lissa left the Navy to move down to WV, she stayed in the Reserves.  One day in 1989 she called me at work to say that the Navy Nurse Corps admiral had asked her to go back on active duty and move to Spain; what did I think? Tough decision: West Virginia or Spain?  After a five millisecond decision process, I turned in my resignation, packed my desk, and we were off to Spain, where Lissa practiced as a nurse practitioner in a U.S. Navy demonstration project clinic.  There we spent three marvelous years enjoying Spain (an absolutely marvelous place), and traveling a bit throughout other parts of Europe.  I was fortunate enough to be able to work as an environmental consultant, and see a bit more of Europe and Southern Africa.

In 1992, Lissa was transferred to Kaneohe, Hawaii.  Paradise is a tough assignment, but someone has to do it!  Again, I was fortunate enough to be able to do some consulting, both in the Islands and in Australia and parts of the Far East.  After four marvelous years in Hawaii, Lissa was transferred to Beaufort, SC to be the executive officer of the Beaufort Naval Hospital.  Three years later, we moved to Corpus Christi, TX, where Lissa took command of the Corpus Christi Naval Hospital Health Care System.  During the four years we were there, I was the sole male member of the All Officer Spouse’s Club!  To further my integration into the military community, I took a job as Education Specialist with the Navy Family Services Center, a position where I felt I was able to provide worthwhile support to Naval personnel and their families.

In 1996, we bade a reluctant farewell to the Navy life, and moved to our present residence in Dublin, Ohio.  Lissa is Director of the Master’s program and the Nurse Practitioner program at the Ohio State University College of Nursing, and I am Parish Administrator at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, where we are members.  Both of us are active in various ministries there.  Our children are spread across the country - Doug and his wife in San Diego; Jennifer, her husband and our two grandchildren in Old Saybrook, CT; and Kirsten and her husband in Bloomington, MN.  Life is very good!