Isabel M. Barry was giving preschoolers a head start long before there even was such a program.
Fresh out of college in the early 1930s, the longtime Oak Park resident ran her own preschool for a while on Chicago’s South Side. In her early 50s, after raising her own children, she returned to the classroom as a kindergarten teacher with classes that each exceeded 50 pupils. “She didn’t even have a teacher’s aide,” said her daughter Barbara.
When the federal Head Start program began in 1964, it came as no surprise to those close to Mrs. Barry that she would be chosen to train the first crop of teachers. Their mission was to provide early education to poor children in Chicago.
Mrs. Barry, 98, a resident of Holly Court Terrace in Oak Park for several years, died of pneumonia Monday, Oct. 15, in Rush Oak Park Hospital.
In 1933, she married Howard Barry, a longtime Tribune sportswriter. They were married for 44 years before he died.
“Early on she had a taste of what it would be like married to a sportswriter,” her son, Richard, said.
Other survivors include a daughter, Lauren; 10 grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren. Mass was said Saturday.
