Audrey N. Barnett
Audrey Newton Barnett died last Thursday at a hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., of congestive heart failure after a long illness. She would have turned 80 today.
Mrs. Barnett was a much-loved elementary school teacher for 20 years at the Springs School. Many people also remember her husband, William H. Barnett, who was a math teacher for many years at East Hampton High School. He died in 2014.
She was a member of the Ladies Village Improvement Society and the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, where she was an elder and played in the handbell choir. She and her husband retired to Southold in 1994 after living in East Hampton for 40 years. While there she volunteered at the Southold Historical Society and the Horton Point Lighthouse. She also served as the librarian at the Southold Presbyterian Church.
She was a talented artist and creative writer who “had a kind and generous spirit and was known to open her heart and home to anyone in need of comfort and family,” her family wrote.
Audrey Newton Barnett was born in Port Jefferson on March 1, 1938, a daughter of the former Edna Moore and Jack Newton. She went to school there and earned a teaching degree at Southampton College. She and her husband married in 1960 and brought up five children in East Hampton, all of whom survive: Timothy Barnett of Atlanta, Toby Marienfeld of Sag Harbor, Shannon DiGate of East Hampton, Megan Anderson of Trumbull, Conn., and Kenia Nunez of Southold. Fifteen grandchildren survive as well. A brother, William Newton, and a sister, Julie Rose, died before her.
She will be remembered most for “being a loving mother and grandmother, an understanding friend with a great sense of humor and quick wit, a nurturing and caring teacher, and an inspiration to so many throughout her life,” her family said.
Mrs. Barnett was cremated. There will be a private gathering in June, and her ashes will be buried in a family plot in Port Jefferson.
Memorial donations have been suggested to Maureen’s Haven, 28 Lincoln Street, Riverhead 11901. Online messages of condolence can be sent to Redgate-Hennessy Funeral Directors at redgatehennessy.com.