NPHS Reunion Interview: Barrie Dempsey, Class of 1969

Music is his life:  Barrie Dempsey, performing in 2016 at Cuyamaca College in southern California.

After spending most of his career in the retail music business as a manager, Barrie Dempsey retired in 2014 to pursue his songwriting career (check out his website:

www.barriedempsey.com).  Prior to retirement, Barrie was an American-Lighting-Association-certified residential lighting specialist.  When he lived in Springfield, OR, he taught drawing, created art, and sold pianos.   After graduating college, he moved to San Diego where he lived for more than 30 years.  It was in San Diego that he met his wife Shannon at the Aquarius roller skating rink. He’s lived in other Western cities incuding Eugene, OR, and Avondale, AZ.  Currently, he lives in Salem, OR, where he and his wife are looking to buy some land and a house. 

What was your sense of community in your class/in the school at NPHS?  

My community was outside of NPHS. I did not have the best experience in school. I was bullied because I had long hair, which I still have.  I was motivated by my music that I was pursuing outside of high school.

What experiences in high school, positive or negative, helped to shape you as a person? 

I think I have blocked out a lot my high school experiences. I don’t remember a lot about them positive or negative.

Do you have any regrets about your experiences during your high school years? 

I feel like the only regrets I have is that I didn’t put more effort into my studies and that I didn’t fight back more when pushed around.

Now, 50 years later, has your perspective on your high school years changed at all?  If so, how? 

High school was a tough time for me and I feel that will always be my perspective.

What was your worst class? 

Math

  

How did growing up at a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years? 

I was a hippie in a high school consisting primarily of jocks and greasers.  I couldn’t wait till it was over. My interests were music and girls. It was a wonderful time for both.

Hair!  Barrie Dempsey (far left....and far out, man) hanging out on the steps of the Plainfield YMCA with his girlfriend and two friends in a photo from the late 60s.