A Few Words About Barry

He was so much more than my brother-in-law. Here's a snapshot of his life, taken from the memorial program:
BARRY PATRICK JOHNSON
October 1, 1956-September 2, 2010
Barry Patrick Johnson was born on October 1, 1956 in Prince George County, VA to Pat and Wayne Johnson. Big sister Gail was anxiously awaiting her new little brother. Barry was premature and was not given much chance to live. In fact, the doctors told his parents to start making funeral arrangements for their little boy. But Barry was a fighter and ne got stronger and stronger, and because his mom asked so many intelligent questions, they thought she was a nurse and let her take him home earlier than they normally would. She was under instructions to feed him every two hours, and sometimes it took him an hour and a half to eat, but his parents were determined and soon Barry began to thrive. However, Barry was then diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and the doctors told his parents he would most likely spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Pat and Wayne sought out other opinions and found a doctor who fit little Barry with a leg brace. He struggled with it, hated it, but learned to deal with it and rode a tricycle faster with his one leg than the other kids did with two. He was determined to fit in. Pretty soon, the leg brace came off and Barry walked with a bit of a limp, but that was all.
Barry grew up in the Los Angeles area where Wayne was an engineer for TRW. But soon Wayne had a calling to go into the ministry and that led him and his family to the seminary in San Rafael, California, and then to Palm Desert for his first ministerial position.
Barry graduated from Indio High School in 1974. He went off to UC Davis for his first year of college but he was much more interested in fixing his Volkswagen than studying. Wayne asked Barry to go on a church mission trip to the Hoopa Indian Reservation in the summer of 1975. It was there Barry met his future wife, Jan Howard, whose friend had asked her to come with her on the church mission trip. It was NOT love at first sight! In fact, Jan dated Barry's cousin Dane first. But when Dane had to go back to Los Angeles to go to school, that's when Barry swooped in. He gave Jan a hug after he dropped Dane off at the airport and that hug was the turning point. From then on, Barry and Jan were inseparable and after one year of being together they were engaged.
They were married July 16, 1977 at Church of the Roses, Santa Rosa, with Wayne officiating and Reverend Lester Muhly from St. Mark Lutheran Church officiating as well. The marriage brought Barry and Jan three beautiful little girls, Julie in 1980, Amy in 1984 and Laura in 1986. Barry worked at a number of jobs, including selling cars at Zumwalt Magrini Chrysler Plymouth for years and was blessed to be working with his best buddy from college, Skip. But Barry had always dreamed of owning his own shop and started M.E.M. Auto repair in 1994 (which stood for Mobile Equipped Mechanical since he would come to your place to repair your car. However, they privately called it "Making Ends Meet"). Barry was finally able to open a permanent shop called The Car Doctor which was a dream come true for him. He was able to establish a Christian place of business and treat people the way he wanted them to be treated - with dignity and respect.
Barry struggled with alcohol for years, but finally realized his marriage and family were more important than drinking. He got sober and stayed sober and helped a great many others along that path. He was a well-respected leader in AA.
Barry also had a great love for kids. Barry and Jan started teaching Jr. High Bible class at St. Mark in the early 90's. It was a great source of joy for Barry to teach kids about the Bible and about God's love. Any child who has been to his Jr. High class will remember "the money talk" where he would take out a fistful of bills from his pocket and tell the kids if any one could guess how much money he had in his hand they could keep it. The purpose of the talk was to teach the kids that this was God's money - not his - and if God decided one of the kids needed it more than he, it was theirs as long as they used it for a Godly purpose. Once, just once, a girl won the money and Barry gave that money away joyfully. He also loved taking the Jr. High kids on their annual snow trip in February. He didn't enjoy the cold, but he loved the Bible study at night and talking with the kids.
Barry and Jan enjoyed a truly wonderful marriage. Not perfect, never perfect, but a God-centered marriage that brought them through many trials. At one difficult point, Jan asked Barry why he stayed with her, and he answered simply "because I promised." And he stayed true to that promise, as did Jan. They enjoyed traveling together, eating out, hanging out with friends and just being in each other's company. They were truly each other's best friend.
Now Barry is in his Heavenly mansion with all the hosts of Heaven. He will be dearly missed on this earth for his love, his sense of humor, his love of Jeff Gordon and NASCAR, his generosity with his time and money, his willingness to drop anything to help a friend, and his sweet, gentle ways. May God bless him in his new Heavenly home.