Lester Leroy Barry

THE OBITUARY Lester Leroy Barry Lester L. Barry was born on September 30, 1936 and raised in Takoma Park, Maryland. He was the eldest of three children born to Rebecca Georgianna Barry. Lester was educated in the public schools of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. He attended Carver Junior College in Rockville, Maryland for two years and later obtained Operating Engineer’s licenses from the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland. He also obtained an Electronics Engineer Degree from the DeVry Technical Institute. For fun, Lester loved to sing, dance and attend family gatherings. In his youth he performed in singing groups with his brother Ollie and cousin Alvin (Pee Wee). On August 19, 1961, Lester was married to Dorothy Juanita Boyd. Together they had three daughters, Lisa, Tina and Donna. Lester served in the Maryland National Guard for eight years. He trained as a launcher crewman working with Nike Ajax and Sidewinder missiles at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. As a young man, he also worked as a mechanic and customized automobiles. Lester also served as a Big Brother to a young teenager in Prince George’s County for several years and kept in contact with him well after his time in the program was over. Throughout the years, Lester worked in various positions in the Prince George’s County school system, the District of Columbia government, and as an Operating Engineer in several large apartment complexes where he maintained the heating and air conditioning equipment and installed thermostats and filters. For a time, he also owned his own TV repair shop. As a TV repairman, Lester often visited a Senior Citizens' building in his neighborhood and repaired televisions formany of the residents for free or provided them with a television if their sets were no longer serviceable. Lester later obtained employment at the National Gallery of Art where he worked for 31 years as an Operating Engineer. There, he operated large compressor units and air handler units for cooling and heating to over one hundred galleries. He later moved to the Audio-Visual Section of the Gallery where he operated all of the sound systems for press shows, ran the projectors for large-and small movies and lectures for 75-100 people. Lester retired from the National Gallery of Art in 2007. Lester was a member of the Park Road Community Church in Northwest Washington where he served as a Trustee for over 30 years. He was a member of the Male Chorus, the Senior Choir, the Choraleers, and Financial Group No. 1. Lester also served as a member of the Van Ministry which provided transportation to members of the congregation. For years, Lester was the sexton at Park Road Community Church. He cleaned the entire building on a weekly basis, installed lights inside and out and did whatever other maintenance chores that were necessary. He was the only sexton during the construction of the Metro tunnel under the church. While Lester was on the Board of Trustees at the Park Road Community Church, he was the head of the Building and Grounds Committee. He was instrumental in helping to obtain a loan for a complete renovation of the church’s apartment building, which is adjacent to the church. The building was gutted, blueprints were drawn up, new floors, new appliances, new electrical wiring, new water pipes, and new windows were installed. A new roof and handicapped walk and railing were also installed. He acted as the liaison between the contractor and the church throughout the renovation process. The apartment building is now fully occupied. In 2007, Lester met Mrs. Janie Boyd who mentioned that she was involved in a program to feed the homeless. This soon became his passion. They would go to a warehouse in Maryland to fill over 30 bags of cabbage, sweet potatoes, boxes of collard greens, and kale to help feed between 100-200 people. In addition to dropping off this food to churches, he personally delivered food to needy people in his neighborhood and to elderly shut-in members of Park Road Community Church who otherwise would ·not have been able to participate in this program.Lester was a ''Jack of All Trades'' and could do just about everything. He was always willing to lend a hand or give advice. He was a mentor to so many. Lester passed away peacefully on June 20, 2025. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, to whom he was married for 63 years, his daughters Lisa (James) Mack, Tina (Tyrone) Hickson, Donna Brown and Alex Brown, two bonus daughters Joanne Mason and Karen Keys, eight grandchildren: Amber, Cheyla (Asa), Christopher (Alisha), Tyshawn (Paul), Dionna, Alexander and Donnell and twelve great-grandchildren: Deion, Gerald, Kalani, Gerrin, Kaitlyn, Khloe, Quincy, Christopher Jr., Levi, Demi, Ava and Aja. He is also survived by his great-aunt Ruth McCalvin and a host of relatives and friends. Lester was preceded in death by his grandchild, Jarrell Mercedes Mack and his brothers Ollie Eugene Barry and James “Tweet”Robinson, Jr.

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Lester Leroy Barry

September 30, 1936 - June 20, 2025