Mavis Barrett Obituary

Mavis worked with and was a close friend of my mother, Patricia Langley Dwight. I still have that picture from the old Charleston Evening Post of the 2 friends sitting on the ground on the Battery with giant sun hats that looked almost like sombrerros. Mavis and Bob , Liz and Jane used to visit us when we lived in Lisbon Portugal and Istanbul Turkey.

I remember in May 1968 Mavis visted us in Istanbul and we went out to the Airport to meet her. We were living above the Danish Consulate near Taksim square. As we got to the intersection of the Bosphuros frontage road and the road that took us up the hill to Taksim Square, mom misinterrupted the marshalling of the Turkish traffic policeman in the road. Mom stopped the car as the Turkish policeman was screaming and he suddenly opened the door and jumped in, still screaming! I was incredulous as mom and Mavis remained calm, spoke softly and then drove the remaining 2 blocks to the apartment / consulate along with the angry cop. Within minutes there were dozens of cops outside, but diplomatic missions can't be tresspassed upon by the host nation, so the matter was quicky resolved. It was a hectic month, as we just watched the Turks riot and attack sailors coming ashore from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier. Nothing like growing up overseas and getting a solid firsthand education in diplomacy and military affairs that would serve me well later on in life.

I understand that Bob Barret helped with a lot of the declassification work in the 1990's when the Cold War ended.

Bob and Mavis were wonderful! We miss them and mom terribly. Prayers up for Bob, Mavis and Mom!