ALAN BARNETT, LCDR, USN

Alan Barnett '15

Date of birth: June 20, 1892

Date of death: March 5, 1930

Age: 37

Lucky Bag

From the 1915 Lucky Bag:

Alan Barnett

Springfield, Ohio

"Alan" "Barney"

KIND reader, let me introduce to you Alan Barnett, for you may be sure that he will never introduce himself. Quiet, reserved, always a gentleman, with a spark of wit when the occasion demands—that's Alan. Barney has gone through the four years here in a steady, easy-going fashion, very seldom worrying much and never rhinoing. He was a source of alternate delight and disgust to members of the old Seventh, with his jokes and puns. Noted for being the King of Red Mikes: never known to drag. Fair one: "Who is that man there?" Joe: "Why that's Alan Barnett." Fair one: "Oh, I think he is so handsome!"—at which Alan turns red and beats a hasty retreat.

Alan will be your friend when you need one, will do anything on earth for you but drag. He is always the same, every time you meet him, and welcomes you with his slow smile whether everything is going all right or all wrong. You may rhino to your heart's content, and Barney will sympathize with you and finally persuade you that the outlook is not so blue after all. On hop nights you will generally find Alan, with his feet on the radiator, being entertained by well-known Cosmop. He has a practical head which will prove of good use in the Service, and is well informed on almost any subject you can think of. Has ideas of his own which you can't induce him to change, and usually they turn out to be right.

In "Kansas" steamer. Second Class cruise. Doctor: "My foot hurts. I think there is a tack in my shoe and I don't know how to get it out."

Alan: "Come about." Deep, tangible silence.

Class Crest Committee; Log Staff (2, 1); Basketball Numerals.

Alan Barnett

Springfield, Ohio

"Alan" "Barney"

KIND reader, let me introduce to you Alan Barnett, for you may be sure that he will never introduce himself. Quiet, reserved, always a gentleman, with a spark of wit when the occasion demands—that's Alan. Barney has gone through the four years here in a steady, easy-going fashion, very seldom worrying much and never rhinoing. He was a source of alternate delight and disgust to members of the old Seventh, with his jokes and puns. Noted for being the King of Red Mikes: never known to drag. Fair one: "Who is that man there?" Joe: "Why that's Alan Barnett." Fair one: "Oh, I think he is so handsome!"—at which Alan turns red and beats a hasty retreat.

Alan will be your friend when you need one, will do anything on earth for you but drag. He is always the same, every time you meet him, and welcomes you with his slow smile whether everything is going all right or all wrong. You may rhino to your heart's content, and Barney will sympathize with you and finally persuade you that the outlook is not so blue after all. On hop nights you will generally find Alan, with his feet on the radiator, being entertained by well-known Cosmop. He has a practical head which will prove of good use in the Service, and is well informed on almost any subject you can think of. Has ideas of his own which you can't induce him to change, and usually they turn out to be right.

In "Kansas" steamer. Second Class cruise. Doctor: "My foot hurts. I think there is a tack in my shoe and I don't know how to get it out."

Alan: "Come about." Deep, tangible silence.

Class Crest Committee; Log Staff (2, 1); Basketball Numerals.

Loss

Alan "jumped overboard from the destroyer Bainbridge on the night of Wednesday, March 5," 1930.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Alan became mentally exhausted from overwork and was being sent on USS Bainbridge to the Naval Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, for treatment. He broke away from his guards and jumped overboard near Cape Maisi, Cuba.
He was a graduate of Springfield high school in 1910. He was manager-in-chief of the school newspaper, The Herald. He was appointed to the Naval Academy by General J. Warren Keifer.
Alan served two years on the USS Hannibal, a naval surveying vessel. In 1918, he served two months as assistant armed guard officer on an American liner.
From June 1919 to August 1920, Alan was executive officer and navigator of the Hale which made a 26,000-mile European cruise
In December 1929, Alan was on battleship USS New York.
A bronze memorial tablet in Alan’s honor was erected in the Ferncliff cemetery across from Soldiers’ Mound.
His father John owned a 157-acre farm and their house at 563 Scioto Strett, Urbana, with eight wooded acres. He was editor of Farm and Fireside magazine. His parents separated, and his mother Esther (Christian) lived in San Francisco in 1920 and San Diego in 1930. She died in 1939. Alan had no siblings.

He has a memorial marker in Ohio.