Obituary of Richard Lindabury Berry

Richard (Dick, "Gamps") Lindabury Berry died peacefully at home with his family on August 18, 2016 in Darien, Conn. He was 91. Dick was born on December 5, 1924 in Short Hills, NJ. His parents were Robert Lawrence Berry, Captain USN and Naval Aide to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and Lucy Van Saun Lindabury Berry. His sister Lillie Berry Smith and brother Robert Lawrence Berry, Jr. predeceased him. Lois Boots Berry, his wife of nearly 64 years, survives him. They moved to Bump-Along Road, Darien in 1954. Their cars featured license plates "Bumpa-1", Bumpa-2" and "Bumpa-3" Dick attended the Short Hills Country Day School; and graduated from the Choate School (1942) and Princeton University (class of 1946). During WWII, he served as an Ensign in the Navy as a communications/signals officer in the North Atlantic. At the end of the war and following his graduation from Princeton, he moved to Seven Gates Farm on Martha's Vineyard, MA to restore his grandparents' house on Indian Hill in West Tisbury. The Berrys' Martha's Vineyard roots trace to the post-Civil War period. Dick first met his future wife, Lois, at a Seven Gates Farm clambake in 1947. Dick's business career spanned many years and included the American Brake Shoe Company, the American Cyanamid Company and Lillard, Berry, Bishop & Parker Management Consultants in NYC. His true loves, apart from his family, were gardening and furniture refurbishing. He was a member of the Darien Beautification Commission. He enjoyed wrestling his 1960s Gravely tractor through underbrush, notwithstanding a near fatal encounter with a yellow jacket hive. Dick was very close with his immediate family: Richard Kingsley Berry and his wife Carla Clay Berry (New Rochelle, NY), and their children Matthew, Eliza and Susannah Berry; Virginia Berry Ouellet and her husband Richard P. Ouellet (Seattle, WA); and Lois Berry Meyer and her husband Jeffrey S. Meyer (Darien, CT), and their children Caroline, Allie, Mallory and Kendall Meyer. Dick's wife Lois, his children and grandchildren were the love of his life. Dick was a long-time member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Wee Burn Country Club and the Princeton Club of New York. A funeral service is planned for Friday, September 9th at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Darien, CT. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Dick's memory to PAWS (Pet Animal Welfare Society, 504 Main Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06851) or Darien EMS-Post 53 (P O Box 2066, Darien, CT 06820). Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820