Eric Gordon Winter Barradale

1921 - 2021

Eric Gordon Winter Barradale passed away peacefully on May 25, 2021 in Brattleboro.

He was born on March 5, 1921 in Orange, New Jersey. His parents, Chauncey Dunbar Barradale and Margaret Winter Barradale, raised Eric and his older sister Jean in suburban New Jersey during the 1920's. With the coming of the Great Depression, Chauncey found it increasingly difficult to maintain steady employment in a given location, and as a result the decision was made to have Eric and Jean live with their aunt and uncle Fred and Kate Hebden in Guilford, Vermont so that their education could stay on track. Eric graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1940.

Eric matriculated to Dartmouth College as member of the Class of 1944. While at Dartmouth he was a member of the tennis and ski teams.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Eric enlisted in the Navy and became a naval aviator. His primary assignment during the war was to fly anti-submarine patrols over the western approaches to the Panama Canal, between Nicaragua and the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador.

During his high school days, Eric had met and dated Joan Estey. They maintained their relationship during the war and were married on July 6, 1944, while Eric was home on leave.

After the war ended, Eric completed his studies at Dartmouth and then entered Tufts Dental School in Boston. After gaining his license to practice dentistry in Vermont, Eric opened his office at 2 Linden Street in 1950. He maintained his dental practice in Brattleboro for thirty-five years. During the latter part of that period, his office was located at Harris Place, overlooking the Connecticut River. He sold his practice on his sixty-fifth birthday, March 5, 1986.

During his years of active practice, Eric and Joan raised two sons, David and John. In addition, Eric and Joan invited two individuals into their home for stays of a year each through the auspices of the Experiment for International Living.

Eric served as a Selectman of the Town of Brattleboro for a period in the 1950s. He and Joan also volunteered their services in Haiti at times during the 1950s. Eric served as a Trustee of the Brattleboro Retreat for a number of years, including as Chair, and was honored by the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals with the prestigious Presidential Award for Outstanding Volunteer Trustees.

Eric and Joan enjoyed playing tennis and were members of the Brattleboro Outing Club. One of Eric's most memorable tennis experiences was playing doubles in an exhibition match at Mount Snow with the great Don Budge, winner of Tennis' Grand Slam in 1938.

Eric and Joan enjoyed skiing as well, and were early converts to cross country skiing. Eric founded and organized the annual Washington's Birthday Cross Country Ski Race in its initial years. The notoriety from those efforts led to an article in Readers Digest.

Together with a group of friends affiliated with the Putney School, including the coach of the US Cross Country Ski Team, John Caldwell, Eric trained for and completed the Vasaloppet Ski Race in Sweden in the mid 1960s. The race course is fifty miles long. It is said that every Swedish male is expected to enter the race at least once in his lifetime.

After his retirement, Eric served as an officer of his Dartmouth Class of 1944 for a number of years. In 2000, he was honored by the College as Class President of the Year. But for the greater part of his retirement, he worked to improve and maintain the family homestead in Guilford, given the name Catamount Farm, after he had purchased it from his aunt and uncle.

No services will be held. Memorial gifts may be made to Dartmouth College, the Guilford, Vermont Volunteer Fire Department or the Guilford, Vermont Historical Society.