John P. Barr

John P. Barr, 84, of Aurora, passed away peacefully Saturday, March 10, 2012 at Provena Mercy Medical Center. He was born October 21, 1927 in Waterman, Illinois. He and his wife Lenore were members of Holy Angels Church. Survivors include his six sons: John M. Barr of Aurora, James F. (GeeYong) Barr of Laughlin, Nevada, Stephen A. Barr of Naperville, Timothy (Stephanie) Barr of Sugar Grove, Scott E. (Kim) Barr of Largo, Florida and Anthony J. (Lena) Barr of Plainfield, Illinois: his daughter, Judith Ann (Barr) Woodruff: his grandchildren: Jason, Tina, Minda, Jimmy, Kimberly, Megan, Matthew, Stephen, Clinton, Eric, Ryan, Georgia, Morgan, Alexandria, Emily, Nicholas and Sebastian; and several great grandchildren. John is also survived by his sisters, Betty (Barr) Comer of Aurora, Irene (Barr) Kaufman of Aurora, and two brothers, Paul W. Barr of Aurora and Eugene K. Barr of Eustes, Florida. He was preceded in death by his wife of sixty-two years, Lenore; his infant son, Larry; his youngest daughter, Susan (Barr) Mathis; and his parents, Peter and Helen, his sister Cleo (Barr) Francis and a brother James Barr. John made his career at Commonwealth Edison as an engineer. An early pilot, he pursued an interest in aviation his entire life. He rebuilt his first plane in the late 1950s and went on to fly and refurbish a number of others. Most recently he focused on building and flying radio controlled airplanes. He was also an inventor. Designing and patenting several mechanisms for Commonwealth Edison, he also developed a successful electrical co-generation production system and in the early days of color television developed a system of refurbishing television tubes. In the early 60's he became a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol and after retirement he and his brother Gene built a horse training facility at the family farm in Hinckley, Illinois. John came from a musical family, he played the coronet and was a vocalist performing in several musicals. John was fascinated by science and technology from boyhood. From the crystal radio set he built as a lad to maintaining multi-million dollar electrical "peeking" engines, he always wanted to know what was next in science. He pleased himself greatly after corresponding with Stephen Hawking about theories of time. He also took a keen interest in photography, video, shortwave radio, astronomy and bird watching. He was also an expert in welding metal, helping fellow aviators in plane repairs. Funeral from THE DALEIDEN MORTUARY will be Friday, March 16, 2012 at 9:30am to Holy Angels Church at 10am. Fr. Randy Fronek will officiate with interment at Marywood Cemetery. Visitation will be held Thursday, March 15, 2012, from 3:00pm until 8:00pm with a Liturgical Wake Service at 7:00pm at the Daleiden Mortuary, 220 North Lake Street, Aurora. 630-631-5500. Please visit the interactive website at www.daleidenmortuary.com to leave a message or sign the guest book.

John P. Barr

October 21, 1927 - March 10, 2012