Noreen Isabella Lindner Barney mother, grandmother, inspirational educator, trailblazing musician, Cable access TV pioneer and creator passed away on March 15, 2024 at age 81.

Noreen was born February 6, 1943 to Adolf H.G. “Al” Lindner and Edina Spiers Lindner. She spent her early years in Stamford and had many fond memories of the Queen Anne Victorian house with the rounded tower where her father, a painter, kept his studio. Having a German father during and immediately following World War II was a challenge for a precocious and curious child who wanted to learn her father’s language and didn’t entirely understand why her father went by the nickname “Al.” Making things more interesting was the age difference between her parents and the presence, especially in their absence, of her two half-brothers who were “older than her mother.” With the addition of a mother who had spent much of her own life up until that time fighting a variety of ailments, Noreen was often left to think and explore the house on her own, especially after a sudden and terrifying appendicitis as a six-year-old.

When her father became ill during her young teen years, Noreen and her mother moved from Stamford to the Greenwich Arms apartments. Noreen and her mother several years re-establishing themselves in as a single parent household in the 1950s with Edina finding a job as a children’s librarian and Noreen attending the local parochial schools. Upon graduation, Noreen went off as a seventeen-year-old in 1960 to Boston College at a time when women were only allowed to attend the School of Education and were not allowed to live on the campus.

Noreen’s children always enjoyed hearing the colorful stories about the housing provided by the college in shared homes with nuns as housemothers. There were tales of riding public transit while the Boston Strangler was active; the girls who were forced to leave campus due to pregnancy; and the drunk boyfriends they’d climb over at the bottom of the stairs. In between there was the opportunity to attend Oxford for a semester that was unfortunately turned down due to family obligations – a story that would continue throughout Noreen’s life.

Upon graduation in 1964, Noreen moved back to Stamford with her mother and began teaching seventh grade English at Turn of River Junior High School at the height of the desegregation of the school system. It was here that she met William Barney in 1965 who was a substitute teacher planning to join the Peace Corps. When the Peace Corps path did not happen, they married in August 1966. Together they attended Fairfield University part-time for their master’s degrees. Once she became pregnant with her son, Jonathan, there was the mandated departure from the classroom because it would have been inappropriate in 1969/1970 to have a pregnant teacher in the building. After daughter Isabel came along 22 months later, there was a new search for a home away from Stamford in the “very distant” suburbs of Brookfield. As her children grew closer to school age, Noreen went back to school again for her Sixth-Year degree at Westchester Connecticut State University. While Jonathan was in kindergarten, she would take Isabel with student babysitters in the lounge to finish her thesis.

In the mid-1970s, Noreen began her run as a trailblazing cable access TV star through her “Wonder Clock” show for several years; produced in a studio located in the basement of the Danbury Library. Noreen wrote all her own songs and had designs on being a children’s TV personality like Mister Rogers. The TV show gave her an entry to several educational conventions in Anaheim, Nashville, and most famous in the family – Miami Beach. The Miami Beach trip came in 1977 when Jonathan and Isabel were old enough to tag along but it was financially impossible for the trio to fly. This meant Noreen embarked on an adventure with her 5 and 7 year old children to take the Greyhound Bus to Miami Beach, then to

Orlando for that “new” destination of Disney World, north to South Carolina to visit her mother’s brother, and then home to Connecticut. While Noreen turned down adventures for herself, she always sought to give her children incredible opportunities and not stop them from seeking out new experiences. That first bus trip was one of many adventures via bus, train, and occasionally car (Noreen hated highways) that the three took over the years. This openness to the world and new experiences would endure for her children and grandchildren.

Once both children were firmly established in all-day school, Noreen went back to work full time in Brookfield beginning in 1979; as a seventh-grade English teacher for two years before moving to her favorite group of children – Third Grade. She always spoke about how third graders were old enough not to cry all the time but young enough that they were still sweet.

Noreen spent 25 years in third grade before finally retiring in 2006. There were numerous teaching partners over the years who became lifelong friends. There were hundreds of students in her homerooms who learned about social studies through her original songs played on the in-classroom piano or her treasured Martin guitar. There were hundreds more who encountered “Mrs. Barney” in the hallways and knew those songs as well as the archaeological dig that occurred yearly along with the city made of unique buildings crafted by her students that would take over one third of the classroom each spring. And not surprisingly she was named Huckleberry Hill School Teacher of the Year.

After 2006, Noreen took a long-awaited trip to Germany to try and re-connect with the memory of her father. That trip brought her joy after a lifetime of staying behind so others could thrive. A lifelong fan of Bob Dylan, Noreen also traveled the country in her early retirement, sometimes much to her children’s dismay, to see him perform at venues from Boston to Washington D.C. and everywhere in between. There was even a trip to Dylan Days in Hibbing Minnesota, Dylan’s hometown for those not in the know. Noreen made several amazing connections through Bob Dylan-related message boards and those friends were also her fellow concert-goers. For someone who let everyone else take the lead, these were great years for Noreen.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease took the memories of those adventures and the lifetime-love of knowledge from Noreen in her last years. She always said she wanted to contribute “something” to her grandchildren, that something always remaining undefined. Granddaughters Skye & Tess were able to grow up with their “Grammy” who shared her love of music and learning and live with them for an extended time in the Washington, DC suburbs. Skye inspired Grammy with her adventurous spirit with Skye’s travel to five continents, jumping out of planes, bungee jumping, and rock climbing. Tess is the musical ingenue and creator (and outdoor explorer) who taught herself to play the guitar and piano, wrote a full length musical and attends New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in their prestigious Musical Theater program, a creative path that Grammy knew well. She proudly took both granddaughters on their first trips to New York to see Mary Poppins, The Lion King, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Grandsons Sebastian, Magnus and Anton unfortunately never got to know their grandmother before Alzheimer’s, but the influence still presents itself in a deep love of music as Sebastian plays both guitar and trombone, Magnus is learning percussion while Anton explores his love of musical theater. All the grandchildren are ferocious in their love of knowledge and collecting information on new and different topics so whether they know it or not, their Grammy is there with them.

She is survived by her son Jonathan, his wife Kerri and their merged family of Skye, Tess Nylah and Laken; as well as her daughter Isabel and her boys Sebastian, Magnus and Anton.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. at Grace Church Millbrook (3330 Franklin Avenue, Millbrook, NY). Interment will occur at a later date at Saint Mary’s/Putnam Cemetery, Greenwich, CT.

In recognition of Noreen’s deep love of both education and the arts, donations in her memory may be made to the Brookfield Arts Commission Scholarship Fund which provides annual scholarships to high school seniors from Brookfield who are pursuing their education in the arts. Donations should be made to “Brookfield Town Hall” noting “Arts Scholarship in memory of Noreen Barney” in the memo and mailed to: Brookfield Town Hall, 100 Pocono Road, Brookfield, CT 06804.

Arrangements are under the direction of the McHoul Funeral Home, Inc. Please visit her Book of Memories at www.mchoulfuneralhome.com.