Janet C. (Muldoon) Barry

Janet C. (Muldoon) Barry, of Milton, a retired sales associate at Sears, died at Hancock Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Quincy on Thursday, January 30, 2014.  She was 79.

Janet was born in Boston and raised in the city’s Dorchester section where she graduated from St. Gregory High School in 1952. She then studied at the former Boston Clerical School to prepare for a career as a secretary.

A proficient typist, she found a position as secretary to Billy Sullivan then the chief executive of Metropolitan Oil and the Boston Patriots. Janet enjoyed her time working with Sullivan saving a football he had given her that was autographed by the entire team.

Janet married Edward F. “Ted” Barry in 1968 beginning a new chapter in her life that would later include a daughter, Jeannine. Janet moved away from working outside the home for a few years to be with her young family. Those years were spent in Braintree with many of their summers spent happily on Peter’s Pond in Sandwich.

Janet’s typing skills led her once again to a clerical position with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts where she spent several years and made many friends working as a data entry clerk before taking her “first” retirement. Then following her husband Ted’s death in 1993, she embarked on another career as a sales associate at the Sears store in Braintree. She remained with Sears for over ten years earning her a “second” retirement.

Following her second retirement, Janet settled into an apartment at Winter Valley in Milton to be closer to Jeannine and her family. At Winter Valley, she developed many friendships serving on the residents council, participating in her building’s scrabble games, coffee hours and movie nights, joining the Milton Women’s Club and volunteering at Milton Hospital where she offered over one thousand hours of her time helping patients and their families. 

As someone who enjoyed a party, Janet loved socializing with family and friends. She hosted a family Christmas party for many years, had a weekly Bingo date with her sisters-in-law Mary and Betty, fully enjoyed family milestone celebrations and all of her grandchildren’s parties, school shows, recitals and sporting events. Her time spent with her grandchildren became such a special part of her life.

Of all of the experiences of Janet’s life, her one constant was her faith. She faithfully attended Mass and will be buried from the church where she has annually had an anniversary Mass offered for her late husband. 

In addition to being the beloved wife of the late Ted Barry and the mother of Jeannine B. and her husband Joseph M. Reardon of Milton, she was the loving “Gram” to Margaret B. and John B. Reardon, the sister of John P. Jr. of Hingham, Edward T. of Hingham, the late Gerald F. and late Paul R. Muldoon; and an aunt to many nieces and nephews.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend Janet’s visiting hours on Wednesday from 4:00 – 8:00 PM in the Keohane Funeral Home, 785 Hancock St., QUINCY. A Celebration of Life Service will be held in the funeral home at 9:30 AM on Thursday prior to the Funeral Mass in St. Agatha Church, Milton at 10:30 AM. Burial will follow in Blue Hill Cemetery, Braintree.  

Donations in Janet’s memory may be made to St. Agatha School 440 Adams St. Milton, MA 02186.