Berry Fibel died December 4th, 2015 after a courageous fight against cronic lymphatic leukemia, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and a really vicious hangnail.
He was born September 23rd, 1931 in the Bronx to Charles and Anna Fibel, the sixth of seven children. At the time he tried to convince his parents that having a child during the Great Depression was not a great idea, but ultimately decided not to make it an issue. Barry suffered from a severe lifelong high frequency hearing loss. In his youth, he could not date girls whose voice was higher than Salvatore Baccoloni’s. Unfortunately, most of them also emulated Mr. Baccaloni in respect to the style of his moustache and body size. A short course in “speech reading” and hearing aids helped broaden his social sphere.
Berry served in the U.S. Army during the McCarthy era, at which time he was declared by the military to be a security risk, but suitable to serve in Korea. All of which he took as an example of military intelligence.
He attended Brooklyn College and received a bachelor’s and Master of Social Work degree from University of Washington. He subsequently employed by the California Youth Authority and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. By the time that he realized that he had made a wrong career choice, all the jobs as a chicken-plucker and mohel in a pickle factory had disappeared.
Barry is preceded in death by his wife, Barbara V. Fibel, and Daughter, Darlene Hathaway; survived by Grandson, Sean Hathaway (Stacy), Granddaughter, Babette Carlson (Brian); 4 Great-grandchildren, Stella, Spencer, Ivy, and Sawyer; and Sister, Esthor Krantrowitz of California, all of whom he loved and cherished.
At his request, there will be no religious service for Barry. The one that he had eight days after his birth (which he cherished as a key of admission to an exclusive fraternity and a rebuff to St. Paul) made a lasting impression on him but left him shy of that sort of thing.