Charles Newbern Barton ’41

Worn out by aggressive cancer and its treatment, Charlie battled all the way but lost on Sept. 10, 1998. Following a family celebration for his great 80 years, he died at home in Charleston, S.C.

Charlie went to Deerfield Academy and Harvard Business School. At Princeton he majored in history and joined Charter Club.

On active duty with the Navy aboard a destroyer in both theaters of WWII, he met and married Norma Thatcher during shore leave in 1944.

Charlie became president of Charles B. Knight Insurance Agency in NYC and general manager of Union Central Life Insurance Co., the world's largest insurance agency, founded by his grandfather. He was president of Douglaston [N.Y.] Club and the Douglas Manor Assn., and belonged to the Douglaston yacht squadron. A lifelong member of the Douglaston Community Church, he attended its Sunday school and later became an elder and chair of the church council. He kept his membership there when the family moved to Charleston, S.C., where he became an associate member of the French Huguenot Church.

Charlie loved sailing, Reunions, and family gatherings, despite being hobbled at times with cranky hips. As class secretary he wrote paw class notes with irrepressible humor.

To Norma, children Knight, Walter, Salley Barton Davidson, and four grandsons, the class extends its sympathy.

The Class of 1941