Back in the early 1960’s, I was surrounded by the Barnett boys at Guy Park Avenue School. None were my age or in my class, but every time you came out a door or turned a corner in that old school building, you seemed to run into one. And fifty years later I remember very clearly what nice kids those brothers were, especially the two oldest boys who were closest to me in age.
A few years later I entered Lynch Senior High and during the three years I attended that school I think I saw my guidance counselor a total of four times. Now granted, I wasn’t the most attentive or conscientious student back in those days but I do remember that unlike me, a few of my friends had this lady named Marget Barnett as their counselor and they’d actually make it a point to meet and talk with her about all kinds of problems and issues several times per year. A dozen years later when I served on the Greater Amsterdam Board of Education I had the opportunity to observe and hear about her outstanding professionalism from a different perspective. If there was a Hall of Fame for Guidance Counselors, Marget Burnett would be a charter member.
Which brings me to today’s Amsterdam Birthday Blog celebrant, Lauren “Bud” Barnett. Here’s a guy who was born and raised in Amsterdam, served his country in WWII and was almost killed doing it…