Florence Connelly Barnes

SHARON — Florence Connelly Barnes died peacefully at Noble Horizons in Salisbury on Tuesday, Sept.  5, 2023. 

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 26, 1932. She was predeceased by parents Gerald S. and Jane Oswald Connelly. Florence is survived by her cousins James H. Carney (Laurie), Peter Carney and Elizabeth Lally Griesmer. Her family home was in Chestnut Hill, outside of the greater metropolitan area of Boston. 

She attended The Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Newton College of the Sacred Heart and The Instituto Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy,  and The Katherine Gibbs School in Boston. 

Florence became the personal assistant to Dorothy Rodgers, wife of acclaimed Broadway composer Richard Rodgers of Rodgers & Hammerstein fame and served as a collaborating assistant editor of her book “The House in My Head” published in 1967. 

Florence moved from Boston to New York City where she became active in the real estate business with Brown Harris Stevens. 

In 1966 she married Earl Barnes at St. Jean Baptiste, New York City. They were married for 50 years until his death in Sharon.  

In 1979, Florence and Earl purchased a country house in Sharon where they eventually moved full time after Earl retired as a Special Agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice.  

They were active in the local community and the Sharon Country Club where they were members for over 35 years and as a member of the Sharon Women’s Club. 

A funeral mass was celebrated on Monday, Sept. 11, at St. Mary’s Church, 76 Sharon Road, Lakeville, CT in the parish of St. Martin of Tours.

 In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute at Fountain Valley School, 6155 Fountain Valley School Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80911 – 719-391-5349 (info@gclileadership.org) or the Sharon Historical Society & Museum, P.O. Box 511, Sharon, CT 06069 (www.sharonhist.org).