Mitchelin Barnes

Mitchelin Arthur Barnes was born in St. Michael, Barbados on August 10, 1954 to James Arthur Barnes and Enid (Seales) Barnes. Mitch, as he was affectionately called by his family, attended public schools on the island, last attending St. Leonard’s Secondary Boys’. He joined his mom and most of his siblings who had already migrated to Boston in the late eighties. Mitch worked at a few places in the area but his longest tenure was at the Museum of Fine Arts on Huntington Avenue in Boston where he worked for 15 years until he retired in 2011. There he worked hard but he loved his job and hardly ever missed a day of work. He got along well with his co-workers and was referred to as a ‘wonderful man’ by senior management of the museum.

Mitchelin met and fell in love with a local girl, Tracey Franklin. They were married in 1991 and lived on Alaska Street in Roxbury until her passing in 2017. Mitch was an extremely private person, pleasant, low-keyed and very independent. He did not have many friends. During the last dozen years or so of his life he suffered some health challenges requiring dialysis treatments but he was always upbeat and very knowledgeable about his many medications. In 2012, he had a kidney transplant.

After about 7+ years the donated kidney started to fail. Unfortunately, Mitch took back up a bad habit he had laid aside years earlier; he resumed smoking, perhaps, helping to further compromise his health. He was put back on dialysis and he faithfully attended all of his 3 times a week regimen up till Saturday, April 10. Mitchelin departed this life during his sleep on the morning of April 12, 2021.

Mitch had no children. He leaves to mourn his passing his siblings: Monica (and husband Colvin) Bishop, Arthur (and wife Shermela) Barnes, Judy Barnes, Anthony (and wife Judy) Barnes of New York, McDonald (and wife Chloe) Barnes and Sherald Barnes and her significant other, Arthur Rainey. In addition, he leaves many nephews and nieces and other family members and a few friends in Boston, New York, Barbados and elsewhere. May his memory live on. May he rest in peace.     

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