Chips

Gail, Pennan and Duncan,

I remember fondly my summer job – about 1981 -- constructing the green
house on Pontiac St. The most exciting part was filling wheelbarrows
with concrete, getting a running start and attempting to push the
wheelbarrow onto a 6 inch wide board then up the three feet to the
level of the greenhouse floor. When things went awry, it was a real
mess and a shin buster. I think we also removed the shingles from the
roof. We had a lot of fun on that project, kids running helter
skelter.

Around this time, I would have drawn out discussions with my father,
Monte Pascoe, regarding his job as head of the Dept of Natural
Resources. Endlessly curious, I would ask questions like, "What do
you actually DO?" He would answer that he made a lot of decisions.
It was through the course of these many discussions that he told me
that while at DNR, he could not have had three finer deputies.
Knowing Chips, I don't doubt it.

I always enjoyed Chips' jovial manner and his down to earth,
unpretentious way. He was a real pleasure to be around. Colorado and
his nut farm (-: miss him dearly.

Ted Pascoe
Executive Director
Senior Support Services
846 E 18th Ave
Denver, CO  80218
303-832-1622, ext 207

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

Monte Pascoe and Chips Barry

Dear Grandchildren,

My late husband Monte and your grandfather were great friends. Chips enjoyed making fun of Monte, as we all did, because Monte readily laughed at himself.

When Chips worked for Monte at the Department of Natural Resources, Chips put in place a large portrait of Monte on a green felt background beneath which was an engraved plate saying "The Monte Pascoe Conference Room." This was in the same room, I believe that had a hole from the other side where Monte had put his fist through the wall, emphatically displaying strong feeling on some issue. The portrait was and is a feature of Monte's home office.

Chips organized a delightful roast of Monte when he retired from his job as Director of Natural Resources, hopefully to become the next mayor of Denver. His gift to Monte was a well-worn cowboy boot, not bronzed, but filled with concrete! Monte kept the boot in his law office for the rest of his career.

We shared with Chips and Gail the experience of having a son with a serious illness. Mostly these sons inspire us with awe, and they live with such courage.

Chips approached life with such joie de vivre, and he was lovable, too. You are fortunate to be a part of his family.

With love to Gail and all the family,

Pat Pascoe

A video appearance of Chips

To Gail, Pennan, Duncan.. Malcolm… and all of his large extended “family.”

 

The event last Friday was so wonderful, adding much more to my knowledge of Chips and even greater sorrow that he is gone too soon.  It is clear he touched many many lives, in a profound way.

 

I wanted to bring to you attention that an appearance he did for Rocky Mountain PBS is archived on our web site, here http://www.rmpbs.org/panorama/?entry=693

 

This was when he was part of a panel discussion about Wallace Stegner, in February this year.

 

If it would be of interest for you to have the whole thing (or just his portion) on a DVD, I would be glad to get it for you.

 

I hope you are all doing as well as possible, celebrating his life, as he instructed in his notes !

 

Very sincerely,

Cynthia Hessin

 

FOLLOW US

Cynthia Hessin Executive Producer 303-620-5654 1089 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204

 

 

 

My Friend Chips

Dear Gail and Family,

 

I took a day off from my current career, teaching high school science, to come down to Denver for the Memorial Service to honor my friend Chips and , perhaps to say hello to you.  The service was everything I could have hoped for and gave me a chance to reflect on my long friendship with Chips and see him through others eyes as well.  But, I didn't get a chance to see you, so I wanted to share a few thoughts in hopes that perhaps I could lend yet another perspective on that wonderful man and what he meant to me. 

 

When I first met Chips, I was a young punk, just out of graduate school with absolutely no vision or idea of what to do next with my life.  Chips, of course was dressed in a corduroy jacket, plaid shirt and as I remember, a plaid tie to go with it, I now know, all from Goodwill!  I immediately loved the guy, took the job at the MLRB and we hit it off from the beginning.  Before I knew it he had me doing things I'd never dreamed I could do, his confidence in me allowed me (or forced me) to grow in the job and mature as a person.  Sometime in the course of that job he said, "Massey, you're never going to really succeed unless you go to law school", a concept which had NEVER even occurred to me.  I dismissed it, because of course, we all hated the lawyers we had to deal with on the job, but he kept at it, and I kept thinking about it.  After 3 years of pestering by Chips, and ultimately joined in by Monte, I applied, was accepted, completed law school (DU) and had a wonderfully productive career.  As you may recall, I was able to retire and sail around the world with my family for 4 years.  We've now settled in Steamboat Springs where I've taken a second career as a high school science teacher and I'm loving every minute of it.  

 

But, this isn't about me, its about Chips.  I dare say no one, except perhaps my own father, had such a profound impact on my life as Chips.  He took an interest in me when I most needed it, gave me encouragement and ultimately a vision which I simply didn't have.  He did it unselfishly and for no other reason than, that is just what you do for a friend.  He thrived on the success and accomplishments of his friends and had an impact on everyone he touched.  As our lives went different directions, our encounters became less frequent, but every time I needed advice, help, encouragement, or just some friendship, he was always there, as if we'd just seen each other the week before.  When I started my own firm, he cheered me on and gave me some advice.  When I then decided to bag it all, and buy a sailboat to take my family out on the sea, no one was a bigger fan.  And finally, when I returned, he treated me like a hero, introduced me to more of his cadre of friends as though I'd just conquered the world.  We had several discussions comparing my sailboat to his "nut farm in the sea", it truly was a common dream of sorts.  I did have the rare chance to get him to settle down at lunch a few years ago and tell him just how important he'd been in my life.  I'm grateful to have had that chance and want to thank you as well.  Chips was everything everyone said about him last week, and then some.  To me, he was simply a wonderful friend that had a profound and lasting impact on my life.  To paraphrase some lyrics I keep hearing in my head,  "He was a friend to me when I needed one, if it wasn't for him I don't know what I'd have done, he gave me something that was missing in me".    I hope you don't mind if I've shared some of my story with others, last week in my chemistry class I was telling some students that in everyone's life there will be someone they should remember,  "You know, in my life there was this guy named Chips  .   .    ."   He was truly the epitome of a genuine friend.

 

I wish you all the best, "it is what it is" (yes i've heard that before as well), cherish his memory and move on.  I do hope that if you are ever up in the Steamboat area, you will look me up, you will be as welcome at my door and I've always been at yours. 

 

Take care

 

Dean Massey