Stephen Wright Barber
February 24, 1937 - May 11, 2018
Stephen Wright Barber, Lieutenant Commander, U. S. Navy (Retired), Twenty five-year resident of the Sunset District in San Francisco, then of San Mateo, CA and more recently of Alameda, CA, passed away on May 11 at the age of 81. Steve was born in New York City on February 24, 1937 but spent most of his youth in the State of Vermont. He always considered himself a “green mountain boy” and a Vermonter in spirit. Graduate of St. Mark’s School, an all-boys preparatory school, in Southborough, Massachusetts and Princeton University, Class of 1960, with a BA in Asian History. Also received a Bachelor of Foreign Trade degree in 1965 from the Thunderbird School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
Upon graduation from Princeton and commissioning as an Ensign from the NROTC unit at the university, Steve spent the next twenty-two years in the United States Navy. His assignments, both at sea and ashore, took him from coast to coast in the U. S. and many bases in Asia, including Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Guam. His most rewarding Navy experience, which he never ceased talking about, was his tour on the USS DeHaven (DD-727), a destroyer homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. It was also during his Navy years that the Barber family started to grow, as he met his future wife, Maryann Comisky, a native San Franciscan, in Sasebo, Japan, where she was teaching at the dependents’ school on base, and both of their children were born in overseas military hospitals.
Upon retirement from the Navy in 1982, Steve found employment for the next twenty-years in the cruise ship business, first with American Hawaii Cruises and then World Explorer Cruises, both companies being based in San Francisco. He enjoyed immensely his experiences in the area of reservations, sales and marketing and the fact that he had spent his entire working life in the maritime arena. Steve fully retired as the Director of Sales at the end of 2003 from World Explorer Cruises.
In retirement Steve became very active in the affairs of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) (formerly The Retired Officers Association) and was president of the San Francisco Chapter from 2006 through 2008, and then as the Area Director for the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. He participated in many MOAA national and statewide conferences and meetings through the year 2012.
Steve is survived by his son Stephen Barber, daughter-in-law Alba Barber, grandson Christian Barber, granddaughter Vivian Barber and grandson Sebastian Barber of Alameda; daughter Jennifer Barber Ulrich, son-in-law Douglass Ulrich, granddaughter Alison Ulrich and grandson Jake Ulrich of Burlingame; and sister Robin Barber Jackson of Westwood, Massachusetts.
The family would like to thank the wonderful staff and residents of Cardinal Point Retirement Community in Alameda, CA for their true friendship, and support. Also, the family would like to thank the amazing doctors and nurses at Alta Bates Summit ICU in Oakland, CA for the care and compassion they showed during Steve’s final days.
Family and friends are invited to a memorial service to be held at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 1310 Bayswater Avenue, Burlingame, CA at 10:00 am on Friday June 8. Ashes will be interned in the Veterans Area, Vietnam Section, at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, Steve requested that any donations please be made to the Fisher House Foundation, Inc., a Veterans’ charity devoted to the maintenance and operation of lodging facilities for families of wounded veterans near to their recuperating loved ones, at address 111 Rockville, Pike, Suite, Rockville, MD 20850.
www.fisherhouse.org