Barrett was born in New York City November 16, 1900, to John Joseph and Eleanor Margaret (Flannery) Barrett. His family was
Roman Catholic. In 1916, he and his family moved to Denver, Colorado. He returned east to attend
Manhattan College, from which he was graduated in 1922. Barrett spent most of his life in Denver. From 1923 to 1929 he worked as the Rocky Mountain advertising manager for Westinghouse. He married Christine M. Rollman on February 15, 1925. Deeply interested in aviation, he was a civilian lecturer for the
United States Air Force, and worked as an
aeronautics consultant with the
Denver Public Library from 1941 on. He received a citation from
Regis College in 1956. ==Writing==