John Joseph Barrett, Jr of Ashburn, VA left this earthly planet on September 16th, 2026. He was born on Feb 5th, 1939 in Pensacola, FL to John Joseph Barrett, Sr and Jeanne Charlton Barrett. John was a Navy brat and grew up in New York City, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Puerto Rico to name a few, before settling in Washington, DC in Anacostia. He graduated from Anacostia High School in 1956 where he played both basketball and baseball. He went on to the University of Maryland receiving a B.S. in education, while playing baseball for the Terps. While he knew his wife Judy in high school, they reconnected in college and went on to get married in 1962. From there they had 3 children, John (Gloria), Patty (Todd) and George.

John started teaching at Glenelg High School in Howard County, MD in 1961 and furthered his studies receiving his master's in education from George Washington University. He coached basketball, baseball and football and was also the athletic director during his tenure at Glenelg.

In 1964 he accepted a teaching job at Springbrook High School in Montgomery County where he would remain until 1992. He initially coached both football and baseball before becoming the varsity basketball coach in 1970. As the varsity basketball coach, he went on to have an incredible career with 2 state championships, 8 region championships, 12 county championships and was named Montgomery County coach of the year twice.

In 2011 he was inducted into the Springbrook Hall of Fame and at the same time the basketball court was dedicated to him.

He finished his career coaching at Palotti High School in Laurel, MD in 1993, where they were tri-state athletic conference and tournament champions and ranked #8 by the Prince George’s Journal.

He remained ever the athlete throughout his life playing softball, tennis and eventually golf. He was inducted into the Greater Washington Fast Pitch Softball Hall of Fame in 1988.

He was a great mentor to many of his players and students, who credit him with many of their accomplishments in life.

Some of his favorite times were watching his 3 children play sports throughout their lives, and he was extremely proud of their accomplishments.

John and Judy were married for 64 wonderful years and during that time they loved to travel and were able to visit many places including Ireland, England, Scotland and France to name a few.

John is preceded in death by his parents John Joseph Barrett, Sr and Jeanne Charlton Barrett. He is survived by his wife Judy, his 3 children- John (Gloria), Patty (Todd) and George and 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at Colonial Funeral Home in Leesburg, VA on Sept 29th at 1:00pm and will be just for family members. A celebration of life will be held at a later date and updates can be found by returning to this website.