Henry Barringer

Henry "Red" Barringer, from Missoula, passed away on December 25, 2024. He was 92 years old.

Born in Hardin, Arkansas where his father was a sharecropper, Red's large family eventually settled in Yakima, Washington. After high school, Red worked at Boeing for a time fashioning jigs used in the construction of B-52 bombers. He then joined the Air Force, serving as Staff Sergeant during the Korean Conflict. He was stationed at the Pentagon and in Alaska, and finally at a radar station just outside Miles City. One day he went into town where a certain Linda sat next to him at the soda fountain in Foster's Drug, and asked if she could have his water. They were married two weeks later, and remained so until Linda's passing in September, 2021.

Red was a life-long lover of things aeronautic. After his stints at Boeing and in the Air Force, he signed on with Frontier Airlines. He began as a general ground crew member whose duties included unloading and loading luggage on DC-3s, not an altogether pleasant task in the winters of Miles City. Red progressed up the ranks of the airline, becoming station manager first in Missoula, and then in Seattle. After the first Frontier Airlines went bankrupt in 1986, Red was hired as Ground Crew Supervisor of Continental Airlines, later United Airlines. He retired some years later, but he was not done. Shortly after retiring, he was asked to join the new (and current) Frontier Airlines, as Vice President.

Not only did Red work around airports and airplanes his entire professional life, but he also had a private pilot's license. He flew as often as he could, taking his family, and occasionally their friends, for trips from town to town. On one solo flight from Riverton, Wyoming to Miles City, his hood cowling unlatched, blocking his view out of his windshield. In true Spirit of St. Louis fashion, Red stuck his head out the side window, landed on a dirt road along the Powder River, latched his cowling and resumed his flight.

Red was an active member of whatever community he lived in. He was a member of a number of business groups and clubs, and was constantly involved in community outreach on behalf of the airlines with whom he served. He was admired and respected by all who knew him - acquaintances, friends, employees, colleagues and superiors alike. Patient, warm, friendly, always helpful, always supportive and always ready with a wry quip, Red was a true Mensch.

But most of all, Red was all of this and so much more for his closest friends and family. He was always in the thick of the unending Sunday dinners, birthday parties, picnics and drives in Miles City where there were four generations of the family he became part of when he married Linda. He loved the many ping-pong parties, teaching his children and his cousins' children how to water ski, leading boat excursions on the Yellowstone River from Forsyth to Miles City, bouncing around the sage brush in his VW. And although the number of participants decreased with his immediate family's move to Missoula, Red's engagement with his family did not wane. He took everyone camping on weekends for the first few years, and then for weekend stays at the cabin on Seeley Lake. Red was a jack of many trades - carpenter, woodworker, electrician, plumber, tiler, builder of truck campers, mechanic. He loved teaching his children and grandchildren these skills, and was very proud watching them take on these abilities. He also enjoyed setting people straight when they needed it. When a friend visiting from "out east" commented on how much closer the sun seems here in Missoula, Red replied "Yep. Thirty-four hundred feet about." Followed instantly with his mischievous grin.

Red is survived by his two sons, Greg and Dwight, his daughter-in-law Rene and ex- daughter-in-law Judy, his grandchildren Jacob and Rachel, and his great-grandson Jesse. He is also survived by two sisters and a brother, many nephews and nieces, and many cousins, all of whom were dear to him.

There will be a memorial service sometime in the Spring at the First Presbyterian Church in Missoula, and after that a grave-side service at the Custer County Cemetery in Miles City. Dates and times will be announced at a later date.