On Friday, February 11, 2005, Thayer High School lost two former athletes from the same family, Ray Barden and Jean (Barden) Herrick. Both died of cancer.
Most from Winchester knew him as Harpo. He was a three-sport athlete who excelled in basketball. Harpo was the first Thayer player to score at least 1,000 points in varsity basketball. He led the Southwestern League in scoring for three consecutive seasons. He scored 1,599 points in a career that started in the eighth grade. He was the captain of the team his senior season, when he score 524 points (24 ppg). He helped the team to the state tournament, and he led Thayer to the championship in the 1960 Tri-State Tournament, when he scored 40 points in the Tri-State semi-final and 36 points in the final game. Ray graduated from Thayer High School in 1960.
I regret that I do not yet have a more complete record for Jean, but she played on the varsity basketball team at Thayer High School and she graduated in 1965.
