GLENS FALLS – Michael Lee Barrett, 75, of Glens Falls, passed on at home, surrounded by her loving family, after a brief illness, on Sunday, July 15, 2018.
Born on May 19, 1943, in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, she was the daughter of the late Woodrow and Betty (Lee) Barrett.
Michael worked for Angiodynamics until her retirement on December 2017. While working there for over 24 years, she made many wonderful friends.
Michael was an extremely gifted artist, painting beautiful pictures in oil, acrylic and water colors as well as drawing in pencil and ink. She enjoyed sewing, arts and crafts and was an expert in knitting, crocheting and lace making. When her children were younger, she delighted in going on picnics, camping and fishing together. Michael’s greatest joy was spending time with her children and grandchildren. She was also a prolific poet, as seen by the poem below.
STONE BUTTERFLY
By Michael Barrett
My heart is of a BUTTERFLY
But I have never flown.
I’ve only flights of fancy for
My wings are made of stone.
My dreams were precious things to me.
I kept them close inside.
Then time and fear took over and
The dreams inside me died.
At summer’s end a butterfly
Is gone to where he must.
His wings lie crumbled on the ground
A touch of fairy dust.
I can’t regret the choice I made,
Can’t really wonder why.
But sometimes, still, I wonder,
What’s it like? To fly?
In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her daughter, Tamara Jane Burch who was born on September 30, 1963 and passed away on August 11, 1964, her sister, Linda Reynolds and her brother, John Barrett.
She is survived by her children, Peter Burch, Michael “Andy” Burch and his wife, Kimberly, Mary Piazza and her husband, Dan and Charles Gordon and his wife, Cindy; her grandchildren, Hailey Cleveland, Michael Burch, Jr. Charles Wesley Gordon, Kaitlyn Burch, Cailyn Gordon and Karleigh Gordon; her brothers, David Barrett, Woodrow “Tony” Barrett and Christopher Barrett; her sisters, Elizabeth Tompkins and Rose Mary Storey; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
With great love we witnessed as you bravely shed your heavy wings and kissed you one last time as we watched you fly away.
Friends may call from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, at the Carleton Funeral Home, Inc., 68 Main Street in Hudson Falls.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Salvation Army, 37 Broad St, Glens Falls, NY 12801.