Another love letter to Chips

Please include our thoughts in the book.

 

Dori and David

Chips Barry Accomplishments

I am one of many that Chips mentored at DW.  Chips was very special to me and my career. There are two important accomplishments of Chips that did not come out at the celebration that I want you to be aware of.  I assisted Chips with these and they are among the things I am most proud of in my 24 years at DW.  The first was in the early 1990’s when Chips started at DW.  Together we changed the way the water collection system was operated to make it much more friendly to the environment and for recreational and other uses.  We worked very hard to find the right balance among all the competing interests.  It was risky and painful but Chips always supported these efforts and they became important evidence of how Chips was transforming DW.  The second accomplishment is more recent.  Chips is recognized as one of the first and biggest leaders in helping water utilities adapt to climate change.  He started this even when climate change was still a taboo topic in most water circles. With Chips leading the way, DW has developed a reputation as a national leader in climate adaptation.  I spent many hours with Chips talking about climate physics, political strategies and working on some really great presentation that Chips gave.  The water industry has lost a great leader on an important front. 

 

 

Marc D Waage, P.E.

Manager of Water Resource Planning

Denver Water (DenverWater.org)

303-628-6572

Marc.Waage@DenverWater.org

 

Input to PopsBook

This article is being published in the Rocky Mountain Saab Club Newsletter, May-June 2010 Issue

Hamlet "Chips" Barry 1944-2010 by Tom Nelson

I count myself among the thousands of people in Colorado that were able to call Hamlet "Chips" Barry a friend. Those thousands showed up at the Wells Fargo Theater at the Denver Convention Center on May 21st to honor his life. As the Manager of Denver Water, and former Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Chips was often in the company of Governors, Mayors, and other elected officials in Colorado, and world wide. So it was not surprising that Governor Ritter, Mayor Hickenlooper, and Senators Bennett and Udall were in attendance at his Memorial event.

Chips was, without a doubt, the most famous member of our Rocky Mountain Saab Club, even though he was not especially active in our club events. I first met Chips at the 1999 Saab Owners Convention at Keystone where he exhibited his silver 2-stroke Sonett II and won a trophy in the Concours. I recall Chips showing up with a vintage steering wheel that he wished to donate to the Auction. He seemed a bit disappointed when I persuaded him to donate it to the live Friday night (SOC benefit) auction instead of the Charity event. That's my first memory of Chips. 

My second memory is from our Project Lisa activity. Chips was the previous owner of Lisa, the red 1974 Sonett III, that we acquired as an RMSC project car in 2006. Chips had restored the car and sold it to a lady in Denver named Lisa. While it was in storage some severe vandalism took place resulting in the car being offered to our Club. During our frequent Project Lisa work parties in 2007 and 2008 I would call Chips for information about the car. Chips never got to see the result of our club's work to restore the car to it's previous glory.

My final interaction with Chips was a series of emails in 2009 to early 2010 regarding his pair of vintage Saabs and his plans to retire to the Big Island. He was so much looking forward to retirement on his 200-acre Hawaiian coffee, honey and macadamia nut farm. But that is where his amazing life story came to an abrupt end with the tragic event of his tractor rolling over on him. He will be missed by many, many people in the Saab Community. You can add your own personal story to Chips' legacy to his grand children by sending it to <PopsBook@gmail.com> where this article will also go.

The Program Book prepared by Chips' wife Gail, the List of Speakers and Chips' signature handlebar mustache ... all part of the May 21st Celebration of his life.

-/_   _/-   

  -/_/-      Tom

 <. .>

    *  elkmtnman