By Gail Geraghty,Staff Writer

PARIS – Positive, dignified, knowledgeable and dedicated.

Those were a few of the adjectives being used by town officials to describe W. John Barlow Jr., who died Monday after a brief battle with cancer.

Barlow, 56, was a longtime chairman of the Paris Planning Board, the Paris Budget Committee, and manager of the Paris Utility District since 1991.

“He has been a prime example of a public servant,” said Selectman Bruce Hanson. “He was very knowledgeable, and just had a tremendous overall view of the community. When I had a question about the budget or the Planning Board, I could go to him and get a straight answer. And the history to back it up.”

Barlow, a chemist by training, worked in the lab at the former A.C. Lawrence Leather Co. from 1971 to 1985. He then spent four years working for a New York tannery before returning to serve on the board of trustees of the Paris Utility District, from 1982 to 1991.

“I really enjoyed working with John,” Hanson said. “He just methodically kept things rolling. John’s going to be very hard to replace.”

Hanson recalled the many times others would defer to Barlow when it came time to word a motion for a monetary article to be included in the warrant. He knew the importance of choosing precise, unambiguous language, and practiced that preciseness when explaining things to others.

“He communicated very well with people,” Hanson said. “John was well respected and well liked.”

Hanson said Planning Board Vice Chairman Russell Case will be taking on the role of chairman. “He’s kept on top of things, and he and the others have all learned a lot from John.”

Peter Bickford, chairman of the Paris Utility District Board of Trustees, said Barlow had almost an encyclopedic knowledge of the water and sewer district, which serves roughly 1,500 customers.

“He knew everything about every corner of the operations, from the water department to the sewer department to the office department,” Bickford said. His background as a former tannery employee was significant, since the district was formed in part to serve the tannery.

“He knew all of the companies and all of the people involved. He was an excellent operations manager,” Bickford said.

Before Barlow went in for surgery, he left instructions for his department heads, Bickford said. “There are people in charge of each area, and they know their jobs. At a time appropriate, we’ll begin the search process.”

One achievement Barlow was quite proud of was his chemist’s ability to keep Paris water free of any chemical additives.

“Paris has a very good tasting water supply, and he wanted to maintain the integrity of the water,” Bickford said. He was an active promoter of Paris water; because of him, Paris water was the best tasting in Maine for four years, and reached a national competition held in New York.

Paris water is aerated, but “we don’t add any chemicals,” said Penny Lowe, PUD office manager. “And he worked hard to keep it that way.”

Besides his public life, Barlow was an active member of St. Catherine of Sienna Church, and a former member of the Paris Fire Department. He loved the Red Sox, and got to see them win the World Series before he died.

“We’ll miss John, and we’ll miss him a lot,” Hanson said.