I just noticed in my Yahoo! Calendar an entry for my late friend, R.S. Barry (Robert Steven Barry), who died on Feb 16, 2002. Barry was an interesting character and turned out to be much more of an influence on my life than I could have predicted. We knew each other because we lived on the same property in Rohnert Park. At first, we both rented from another person there, but through a series of very odd events, that person ended up moving and Barry wound up as my landlord.
I lived on that property (in what was really an old shack) from 1985 until 1990 when I moved to Sebastopol. I kept in contact with Barry off and on over the years but somewhere around 2000, he lost his lease. I can’t remember where he wound up living, but I think it was a friend’s place that allowed him to park his trailer. Then on Feb. 16, 2002, I was awakened from an afternoon nap by a phone call from the Sonoma County Coroners Office. The officer asked me how well I knew Barry, and I told him we were friends. Apparently, Barry had had a massive stroke while parking his car at a Rohnert Park health club. He was 63.