Maine Perspective Front Page
Remembering the Woman Who Changed Lives
Veronica Barry was a fighter. And she didn't believe in limits, especially those imposed unjustly on others.
Her University of Maine classmate Ian Rowlandson never forgot her.
"She was very much into life," says Rowlandson, vice president for Cardiology Information Systems at Marquette/General Electric Medical Systems. "She loved music and literature, and was a believer in education.
Veronica had a great sense of humor and an insightful, decisive mind. She had an intensity that broke barriers and allowed her to reach people quickly.
"The thing about Veronica is she was able to touch people in such a way as to let them know that they were special. She let them know they had a right to grow and to be in the world. She was not a sweet person but a real person."
Rowlandson recently donated $50,000 to the N. Veronica Barry Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of the woman who changed his life. The fund, established in 1992, annually provides direct assistance to one or two UMaine students with disabilities, making possible the purchase of such equipment as hearing aids and specialized computer software to help reduce barriers to academic achievement. Rowlandson's gift will enable an additional four students to receive the scholarship each year.
Barry had polio as a child. Her legs were braced to allow her to walk with crutches. "Her father rehabilitated her and forced her to get on with life," Rowlandson remembers from his discussions with Barry. "She could have ended up staying at home. Instead, her conviction was to live life to the fullest. She took chances. She was physically handicapped but that was never in my way of looking at her."
Rowlandson, from Glens Falls, N.Y., enrolled at UMaine in 1971 to major in engineering physics. "Classes were small and everybody pretty much lived on campus," says Rowlandson. "There definitely was a campus feeling - a feeling that you were not just commuting to an impersonal business but, rather, that you were part of an educational community. The University gave me a great education. In addition to great physics faculty, Fred Irons was one of the highlights - an exceptional teacher. The Math Department also was very good."
It was at UMaine that Rowlandson pursued his interest in software development, even when most of the early computer technology still involved card punching. "I remember making a hologram and seeing magnetic resonance for the first time. That was the thing about UMaine. There were so many talented professors directly showing you those things," he says.
"It is an outstanding university. My professional success is due in large part to the University of Maine."
In 1974, Rowlandson spent the summer on campus as a National Science Foundation trainee. He enrolled in a popular psychology course and became friends with Barry.
"I continued to see Veronica after the class ended. After I graduated from the University of Maine, we remained friends and kept in touch, but I never saw here again."
At the time Rowlandson left Maine, Barry was working as a high school guidance counselor. She then served as coordinator of UMaine's Office of Services for Students with Disabilities from 1979 until her death from cancer in 1985.
Following his degree from UMaine, Rowlandson earned a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Utah. In 1979, he joined what was then Marquette Electronics, a 200-employee company specializing in electrocardiography that had $12 million in annual sales. By the time General Electric purchased the company last November, Marquette Electronics had become world renowned, employing approximately 3,000 people and tallying over $580 million in annual sales.
In making the donation in Barry's memory, Rowlandson says it was his way of helping the fund remain alive - a fund that affects the lives of people in the same way its namesake did.
"She was one of the most significant people I've ever met," Rowlandson says.