Barry Hilton passed away peacefully on April 23, 2022 after a long battle with Parkinson's. Barry was an intellectual's intellectual, with deep interests in literature, poetry, linguistics, computer science, and music. Born in Sterling, Kansas in 1945 to a military family with ambitious academic aspirations for their children, his youth was unusual itinerant: he had moved seven times before the age of ten. His father Ken Hilton, made his career in the United States Air Force and spent his retirement as a librarian; his mother, Viola Hilton, was a Julliard-trained music educator who instilled in Barry a lifelong love of music. His successful primary and secondary school career ranged from a one-room schoolhouse to a public high school in Ohio. With a National Merit Scholarship and a Harvard National Scholarship in hand, Barry headed East in 1962. Having polished his rough edges as a student announcer at WHRB-FM, he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature. He began a masters program in Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University, but left to join the United States Marine Corps. He spent the next thirty-five serving his country: first as a soldier and then as a diplomat. His career took him all over the world, including extended periods in France, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Singapore. After his marriage in 1970, he left a lasting mark on several generations when, as their sponsor, he resettled his large family of Vietnamese in-laws in the United States.
A lifelong aficionado of East Asian and Southeast Asian studies and an avid independent scholar, he was one of the premier Vietnamese linguists in the US military, an official interpereter at the US Embassy in Paris during the time of the Paris Peace Accords, and an owner of more than 100 Chinese dictionaries. He spent a considerable portion of his final years in pursuit of beloved, but ultimately unfinished, Chinese dictionary project.
Barry loved the written word with a passion, and in his retirement edited several books. Wherever he lived, he brought with him a library-sized collection of books - a collection that had grown to more than four thousand volumes by the time of his last residence in Brunswick, Maine. Conversant in six languages, Barry liked nothing better than to discuss the finer points of a translated word or phrase - he has described himself as an "armchair philologist and recovering polygot." He was a master of the obscure pun and the esoteric reference, and was always delighted to share his immense store of knowledge with those who knew him.
Barry was enormously proud of the strong love he gave and received from his large family. His special delight was the yearly "Beach Week" family reunion, where brothersm susters, children, nieces, and nephews gathered for food, singing and all around joy. He loved hearing and telling stories about everyone's lives.
Barry will be missed by not only his family but by friends around the globe. He us syrvuved by twi brothers, two sisters, two sons, two daughters-in-law, three grandsons, a granddaughter, and his close companion.
A lifelong aficionado of East Asian and Southeast Asian studies and an avid independent scholar, he was one of the premier Vietnamese linguists in the US military, an official interpereter at the US Embassy in Paris during the time of the Paris Peace Accords, and an owner of more than 100 Chinese dictionaries. He spent a considerable portion of his final years in pursuit of beloved, but ultimately unfinished, Chinese dictionary project.
Barry loved the written word with a passion, and in his retirement edited several books. Wherever he lived, he brought with him a library-sized collection of books - a collection that had grown to more than four thousand volumes by the time of his last residence in Brunswick, Maine. Conversant in six languages, Barry liked nothing better than to discuss the finer points of a translated word or phrase - he has described himself as an "armchair philologist and recovering polygot." He was a master of the obscure pun and the esoteric reference, and was always delighted to share his immense store of knowledge with those who knew him.
Barry was enormously proud of the strong love he gave and received from his large family. His special delight was the yearly "Beach Week" family reunion, where brothersm susters, children, nieces, and nephews gathered for food, singing and all around joy. He loved hearing and telling stories about everyone's lives.
Barry will be missed by not only his family but by friends around the globe. He us syrvuved by twi brothers, two sisters, two sons, two daughters-in-law, three grandsons, a granddaughter, and his close companion.
Barry Hilton passed away peacefully on April 23, 2022 after a long battle with Parkinson's. Barry was an intellectual's intellectual, with deep interests in literature, poetry, linguistics, computer science, and music. Born in Sterling, Kansas in 1945 to a military family with ambitious academic aspirations for their children, his youth was unusual itinerant: he had moved seven times before the age of ten. His father Ken Hilton, made his career in the United States Air Force and spent his retirement as a librarian; his mother, Viola Hilton, was a Julliard-trained music educator who instilled in Barry a lifelong love of music. His successful primary and secondary school career ranged from a one-room schoolhouse to a public high school in Ohio. With a National Merit Scholarship and a Harvard National Scholarship in hand, Barry headed East in 1962. Having polished his rough edges as a student announcer at WHRB-FM, he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature. He began a masters program in Southeast Asian Studies at Yale University, but left to join the United States Marine Corps. He spent the next thirty-five serving his country: first as a soldier and then as a diplomat. His career took him all over the world, including extended periods in France, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Singapore. After his marriage in 1970, he left a lasting mark on several generations when, as their sponsor, he resettled his large family of Vietnamese in-laws in the United States.
A lifelong aficionado of East Asian and Southeast Asian studies and an avid independent scholar, he was one of the premier Vietnamese linguists in the US military, an official interpereter at the US Embassy in Paris during the time of the Paris Peace Accords, and an owner of more than 100 Chinese dictionaries. He spent a considerable portion of his final years in pursuit of beloved, but ultimately unfinished, Chinese dictionary project.
Barry loved the written word with a passion, and in his retirement edited several books. Wherever he lived, he brought with him a library-sized collection of books - a collection that had grown to more than four thousand volumes by the time of his last residence in Brunswick, Maine. Conversant in six languages, Barry liked nothing better than to discuss the finer points of a translated word or phrase - he has described himself as an "armchair philologist and recovering polygot." He was a master of the obscure pun and the esoteric reference, and was always delighted to share his immense store of knowledge with those who knew him.
Barry was enormously proud of the strong love he gave and received from his large family. His special delight was the yearly "Beach Week" family reunion, where brothersm susters, children, nieces, and nephews gathered for food, singing and all around joy. He loved hearing and telling stories about everyone's lives.
Barry will be missed by not only his family but by friends around the globe. He us syrvuved by twi brothers, two sisters, two sons, two daughters-in-law, three grandsons, a granddaughter, and his close companion.
A lifelong aficionado of East Asian and Southeast Asian studies and an avid independent scholar, he was one of the premier Vietnamese linguists in the US military, an official interpereter at the US Embassy in Paris during the time of the Paris Peace Accords, and an owner of more than 100 Chinese dictionaries. He spent a considerable portion of his final years in pursuit of beloved, but ultimately unfinished, Chinese dictionary project.
Barry loved the written word with a passion, and in his retirement edited several books. Wherever he lived, he brought with him a library-sized collection of books - a collection that had grown to more than four thousand volumes by the time of his last residence in Brunswick, Maine. Conversant in six languages, Barry liked nothing better than to discuss the finer points of a translated word or phrase - he has described himself as an "armchair philologist and recovering polygot." He was a master of the obscure pun and the esoteric reference, and was always delighted to share his immense store of knowledge with those who knew him.
Barry was enormously proud of the strong love he gave and received from his large family. His special delight was the yearly "Beach Week" family reunion, where brothersm susters, children, nieces, and nephews gathered for food, singing and all around joy. He loved hearing and telling stories about everyone's lives.
Barry will be missed by not only his family but by friends around the globe. He us syrvuved by twi brothers, two sisters, two sons, two daughters-in-law, three grandsons, a granddaughter, and his close companion.
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