John A. Barnes, a senior long-range planner at Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics for 25 years, died on January 30 at Pendleton Healthcare in Mystic after a battle with Parkinsons disease.
At the start of his career, he worked in the early days of the car and television industries in the United States and Canada.
Mr. Barnes, who retired in 1985, worked mainly on 688 Class submarines at Electric Boat, including the USS Nautilus. His duties included insuring that the Groton shipyard was capable of supporting the construction of the nuclear submarines.
Previously, Mr. Barnes worked as a planner in charge of the control center at General Dynamics’ Astronautics Division in Plattsburgh, NY, and as a planner at Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego, CA.
Mr. Barnes, a native of Windsor, Ontario Canada, worked in the early days of the car and television manufacturing industries in the United States and Canada.
He worked at Ford Motor Co. in Detroit, Michigan from 1955 to 1958. He was in charge of pre-production control for the notorious flop, the Edsel. Mr. Barnes was responsible for insuring the parts from contractors were available for the timely manufacture of various models of Ford cars. “It was a car that was ahead of its time,” he said of the Edsel. “It had air ride suspension, push-button transmission and a huge 365-horsepower motor that was surprisingly easy on fuel consumption.” So why did it fail? “They took a survey that indicated the public was ready for it but it wasn’t.” said Mr. Barnes. “It was ahead of its time and the quality was not there.” He also said some in the Ford division effectively “sabotaged” the Edsel because they feared it would erode sales for existing Ford successful products.
Mr. Barnes worked from 1950 to 1955 at Canada’s first television manufacturing company, Coronet Television of Windsor, Ontario as head of pre-production control. He recalled that William Hurwitz, the company president, was looking to fill gaps in the company assembly line which was manufacturing die cast parts for Ford Motor Company. He began manufacturing television sets based upon a prototype made by Muntz Television in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Barnes said Mr. Hurwitz eventually hired an engineer and began manufacturing his own designs. He said the company became overextended and went bankrupt in 1955.
Mr. Barnes worked at Ford Motor Company in Oakville, Ontario, Canada from 1939 to 1950. He was responsible for insuring that 212 die cast parts were on had for the car manufacturing assembly line. “In those days,” he said, “There was only a couple of days inventory of parts on hand. We literally had to guess how the availability of parts manufacturers by outside contractors would be affected by labor strikes, truck accidents, and acts of God.” He recalled many sleepless nights worrying that the lack of a single part would bring the entire assembly line to a screeching halt.
Mr. Barnes served in the Royal Canadian Ordinance Corps from 1941 to 1945. He was honorably discharged, having attained the rank of lieutenant.
During World War II, Mr. Barnes volunteered to served on the European front but instead was assigned to use his valuable expertise in car manufacturing to set up a system to improve the interchangeability of automotive parts in the war effort. At the time, he said, Canadian automotive factories were working overtime to ship truck parts to North Africa to be used in the campaign against the German war machine. For bureaucratic reasons, some surplus automotive parts were being disposed of even though they were still usable. Mr. Barnes was stationed in Montreal and Ottawa.
Prior to World War II, from 1937 to 1939, Mr. Barnes worked at Hiram Walker Distilleries in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, first as an office boy and then as an accountant.
He was born on August 17, 1917, at 317 Caroline Street in Windsor the son of Adelaide Anderson and Albert J. Barnes. He had three siblings, Lyllas Spitzer of Redlands, California, the late Dorothy Robinson, of London, Ontario and the late Henry James Barnes of Victoria, British Columbia.
Mr. Barnes was predeceased by his wife, Patricia Marie Sugrue Barnes, who died in 1970. He is survived by a son, Michael A. Barnes of Hollis, NH, and four daughters: Kristina Barnes Veilleux of Canterbury, CT; Patricia G. Barnes of Indianapolis, IN; Kathleen M. Sheehan of Mystic, CT; and Martha R. Barnes of Old Lyme, CT; and five grandchildren.
His family will greet relatives and friends at The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl Street, Historic downtown Mystic on Friday from 1-1:45pm immediately followed by a funeral service at 2pm. Burial will be in Elm Grove Cemetery.
Donations in his memory may be made to the National Parkinson Foundation, 1501 NW 9th Avenue, Miami FL 33136 .
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