Throughout the next few weeks OLMC is publishing profiles of each of our Hall of Fame Inductees, we hope you enjoy these personal portraits of alumni, parishioners and Academy families and we especially hope to see you at the gala event, November 30, 2018. Tickets can be purchased at the Narthex Office after the 10AM Mass or in the Church and Academy offices during the week!
It all began in Manhattan’s legendary Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood…
“We noticed each other,” Tom says of seeing his future wife, Christine. “I worked and also lived in the connecting brownstones where she lived with her young daughter, so one day I asked her out.” A ride on the Staten Island ferry and a Yankee game eventually led to the couple being married in 1983.
Like any couple, they survived some tough times. Tom recalls when they were first married, working in the family’s funeral business on West 51st Street as the area began to change. “You would have to take a cab out of the neighborhood just to take a walk,” he says. Yet the couple persisted. Eventually they were blessed with the births of Daniel in 1986, and Julia in 1990. Together with Christine’s daughter, Kim, their family was complete.
It was when they moved to New Jersey that they began looking for a school for Daniel. Tom, like his siblings, John and Betty Ann, graduated from Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. Christine tells the story of the moment she knew this was the place for their son.
“We were waiting to meet with Sr. Michelle (then principal of OLMC) and a classroom of kids got out and they immediately surrounded Sr. Michelle and hugged her and it was all so genuine, even though it seemed like something out of a movie! I immediately said He’s coming here and, sure enough, Dan graduated in 2000 and Julia graduated in 2004,” Christine says.
Christine and Tom Barrett
The word ‘legacy’ seems defined by Tom and Christine Barrett. “My mom was active in school life and, for a time, was the president of Mother’s Guild as it was known at the time—now Parents’ Guild,” Tom says. He has fond memories of her standing on chairs, decorating for the many variety shows and, of course, the marquee event—International Night. Tom’s mother’s dedication to OLMC inspired Christine to try and follow in her footsteps serving as secretary of Parents’ Guild; chairing the annual book fair; even editing the newsletter that she dutifully typed out on her electronic typewriter.
For decades Tom and Christine carried on the tradition of service to the parish and school. In 2012 the family sold the New York funeral business and, when most couples would choose to retire, Tom and Christine began a new chapter of giving to their community.
“We’ve heard of the Office of Concern, but didn’t know much about it,” Tom begins. After an invitation from Frank Tarsney, the former director of the Office of Concern, Tom began volunteering and never stopped. “They were looking for someone who could be a translator and was computer literate,” Christine continues. She got the job and is now the manager of the Office that serves thousands of meals to some of Bergen County’s most vulnerable citizens. “I loved it, and it’s been an amazing experience,” Christine says. “My fellow co-workers and volunteers are a devoted and caring group doing good work.”
All that service could’ve been enough, but the Barretts weren’t done defining legacy for their fellow parishioners and the parents that would follow them. “Fr. Dan mentioned a trip to Peru,” Christine says. “His passion for the project got me fired up.” Christine traveled to Peru as part of the medical mission (you can read her reflection at www.olmc.us) with the inaugural team leading efforts in registering clients and translating. “It doesn’t get better than this,” she says of her experience at OLMC. The couple has already accomplished so much, yet it feels like the Barretts are just getting started.
The Legacy Award will be presented to Mr. Thomas Barrett (Class of 1962) and Mrs. Christine Barrett, parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. The Legacy Award is given to an individual or family whose dedication to service is truly a family affair. While the family does not have to be parishioners, or even Catholic, all the couple’s children must have attended and graduated from the Academy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.