BOSTON—Joseph Barton, 60 years old, a longtime activist in the Fenway area of Boston, died Monday September 9th, of bladder cancer. He was the husband of Jennifer Jones, who survives him.
He was born in Lawrence, June 3, 1942, a son of Marguerite A. (Walsh) Barton, of Lowell, and the late Joseph F. Barton.
He graduated from Phillips Academy, in Andover, Class of 1960, and from Harvard University, in 1964. He went immediately into the Peace Corps and spent five years in many villages and cities of Columbia, South America, especially in Cartagena, building schools and health centers, and giving jobs to the local populace. He still has many friends there and returned annually to visit them.
Mr. Barton was the former Chairman of the Fenway Planning Task Force, which required his being a liaison between Mayor Menino and City Hall, the Fenway residents and the Boston Red Sox to try to resolve the new/old stadium question. Because of his absolute desire for justice, this demanding and difficult job was always carried out with incredible fairness to all sides.
He had been President of the Fenway Civic Association and on the Board of R.O.W., Restore Olmstead’s Waterway, where he was very active in trying to solve the reed problem in the Muddy River.
He was an avid gardener, which was proved by the many pictures in local papers and on television news. He was a member of the Fenway Garden Society, for over twenty-one years, serving as vice president at one period. His roof-top gardens became famous for their fruit bearing trees, exotic plants and vegetables, not only in Boston, but also in Sweden. When he traveled around the country or the world, he would collect seeds from flowering plants and try to grow them in one of his gardens.
Surviving him besides his wife and mother are a brother and sister-in-law: David and Cindy Barton, of Lowell; a sister and brother-in-law: Anne Barton and her husband Steve Smith; a niece: Julie Dorf-Nielsen, and her husband Whitney, of Natick; nephews and their wives: Allan and Amanda Craft, and Philip And Kate Craft, all of Australia.
Friends may call from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 PM on Thursday, September 12th, at the MAHONEY FUNERAL HOME, 187 Nesmith Street, (Rte. 38). His Funeral Mass to be offered Friday morning, September 13th, at 9 AM at the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH, Lowell. Cremation to follow. Private Burial to be held at a later date. Donations in his memory may be made to the Gerson Institute; Cancer Cure Center; 1572 Second Avenue; San Diego, CA 92101.