Barry Charles Hyde, 58, of Gales Ferry, died peacefully in his living room surrounded by his family on February 18, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was born in Tampa, Florida, to the late Donald Earl Hyde and Sandra Jeanne (LaMond), and graduated in 1976 from Burke High School in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was raised..
He enlisted in the Navy after high school, where he was stationed in Groton on the U.S.S. Fulton as a diver. After his Navy service, he made southeastern Connecticut his home, managing the Connecticut Avenue Package Store in New London and later working at Wyman Gordon in Groton as a quality assurance inspector.
Barry will be most remembered and deeply missed for his generous heart and fierce devotion to those he loved. He spent summers with his extended family in Newport, Rhode Island, where he developed a lifelong love of the ocean and fishing, which took him from British Columbia to the Florida Keys. He was always quick to greet friends and strangers that inevitably became friends with a smile, handshake, refreshment, and good conversation. He possessed an unmatched ability to spin a larger-than-life story, whether about his muscle car racing days in Omaha, his adventures in the Navy and at Conn Ave, the world-record fish that he just missed catching, or bragging to anyone who would listen about his children, to whom he was completely devoted, coaching little league baseball, volunteering in his son’s Boy Scout troop, and buying (too much) pizza for their gatherings with friends.
In addition to his father, he was predeceased by his loving wife of 24 years, Joanna Lois (Mockler). He is survived by his children, Jennifer Robbins (Michael) of Waltham, MA, and Thomas Michael (Eileen) of Alexandria, VA; his mother, Sandra Jeanne Hyde of Omaha, NE; his brother, Thomas Hyde (Toni) of Vancouver, WA; his sister, Robyn Rimmington (Douglas) of Omaha, NE; extended family and countless friends, shipmates, and fishing buddies.
A memorial service will be held on March 4 at 1pm at Groton Bible Chapel, 66 Tollgate Road, Groton. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Barry’s family would especially like to thank the Bellefleur family, Barry’s friend Justin Bradley, and the Southeastern Connecticut Center for Hospice for their care of Barry.
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