Mrs. Joseph Barrett, Ex-Navy Nurse, Dies

Mrs. Joseph E. (Josephine Christine) Barrett, 81, a former U.S. Navy nurse and assistant director of a Haitian nursing school, died Wednesday in Georgian Bloomfield Nursing Home, Bloomfield Hills, after a short illness. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett, both veterans of World War I, lived in Ann Arbor from 1958 until Mr. Barrett's death in November 1971. Mrs. Barrett moved to Birmingham in 1972. She had been a member of St. Andrew Episcopal Church Altar Guild here. Mrs. Barrett has served as a registered nurse in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps with the rank of lieutenant pro tem. She was stationed in Haiti with U.S. Marine and Navy Hospitals for six years during the U.S. Marine occupation of World War I. After her service in Haiti, Mrs. Barrett continued her nursing career in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Calif., and Salem, Mass. She and Mr. Barrett met in Detroit in 1926 and were married. He was a member of one of the first U.S. Army World War I units to be motorized. Mrs. Barrett volunteered as a Red Cross nurse during World War I. Born in Presque Isle, Maine Oct. 28, 1892, Mrs. Barrett attended schools in Salem, Mass. and trained as a nurse in Exeter, N.H., and Bellevue Hospital, New York City. She is survived by a son, David J. Barrett, Bloomfield Hills; four grandchildren and four nieces. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at the Bell Chapel of William R. Hamilton and Co., 820 E. Maple Rd., Birmingham. Services will be conducted by Rev. Canon Kenneth H. Gass, D.D., rector of St. James Episcopal Church. Committal will be at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, Troy. Memorial contributions may be sent to American or Michigan Cancer Foundation.