| Graduation Year | Class of 1969 |
| Date of Passing | Jun 11, 2011 |
| About | Obituary: GARY CURTIS BARNABY, 60 died June 18, 2011 at his home in Edgewater, Florida. He was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts and was the son of the late Frank D. and Theresa (Feola) Barnaby. He graduated from Bourne High School in 1969 where he enjoyed automobile mechanics. He was a veteran during the Vietnam War and was stationed in Germany. After an honorable discharge he worked in Massachusetts being licensed in heavy equipment. He subsequently moved to Edgewater, Florida and opened his own Small Engine Repair Service and Rental business. He built a replica 1902 Model T Ford from a golf cart and registered it 20 years ago. One of the first battery operated automobiles in Florida. He enjoyed tinkering with engines, fishing and dabbled in CB equipment. In fact, he loved working with his imagination building things with his hands. He also loved sci-fi movies and series. His favorites were Battlestar Gallactica and Dr. Who. He was a loving brother and will be greatly missed by his ten siblings. A memorial service was held at St. Peter’s Church on the Canal, Buzzards Bay, MA on July 13, 2011. Gary had is picture in the newspaper in Daytona in 1992 for building a car. Below is the article in the newspaper as follows: By Mark J. Johnson, associate editor Most Southeast Volusia residents look at the remains of an old golf cart and a pile of crap metal and see an old golf cart and a piece of scrap, but not Gary Barnaby. For Barnaby, that golf cart and scrap metal represent ready transportation for his wife, but not just any transportation: a replica of a 1909 Model A. Ford. “This was just something I wanted to do,” Barnaby said as he shows off his creation. Next I want to build a Model A truck.” The 44-year-old Edgewater resident said the root of his creation came when a friend gave him a set of drawings of a Model A. After looking over the plans, he said, he decided he wanted to build a replica of Henry Ford’s classic, so he went into the back yard and started there. “I had an old golf cart and some scrap iron,” He said. “I used the drive train from the golf cart for the engine, but the rest of it I built myself.” The wheels of the replica, Barnaby said, came from some motorcycle wheels he purchased at a junk shop. The car has real kerosene lamps as decorative headlights, paint cans are the housing for the real headlight and the plastic cap off a spray paint can is the horn button. The four-seater uses six golf-cart batteries as its power source, as a suspension made from the leaf springs of an old golf cart and the wheel hubs from a discarded trailer. “I just improvised with things I had around the yard to make something functional,” he said. “It took me about three months to build it. The hardest part was getting it registered as a legal vehicle.” Barnaby said he doesn’t look at the car and see anything particularly special about it or his ability to create it. He said it is nothing more than a working example of what a person can do if they put their mind to it. “Most people don’t realize they have the ability to do something like this,” he said. “You don’t have to have any special skill, you just have to want to do it. “Anyone who is good with their hands and uses common sense could have done it.” He said. However, when you look at the replica, one can quickly see there is something special here. Barnaby said he has always been skilled with his hands and mechanical things, but he was never formally trained. Most of his knowledge, he said, comes from years working in the construction industry. “I also worked for a golf cart company,” he said. Barnaby said his wife, Diane, uses the car to get to and from the market, but while it will travel up to 20 mph, it isn’t something she takes on the open road. “I drive it along the back roads to get to Winn Dixie”, she said. “I have had a lot of people stop and ask me about it. Where we got it and what can it do.” He said in today’s society, where the government’s permission is seemingly needed to do almost anything, his car represents the independence that is available if a person wants to grab it. “More and more the government tells you what to do or that you have to be licenses to do this and that. A person should not be restricted by the government or public opinion,”, he said. “You should be restricted only by what you want.” Barnaby moved to Edgewater about eight years ago from Massachusetts. |
