Audrey Havican Barberet

Audrey H. Barberet, First Woman Mayor of Mansfield, Connecticut

Mansfield, CT

October 27, 1929-December 28, 2025

Audrey Barberet (née Havican) of Storrs, Connecticut, died peacefully at home in Storrs on December 28, 2025, after a long illness. She was 96 years old.

An instructor of French and English, Audrey was active in local politics for much of her life. She served on the Mansfield, Connecticut, Town Council from 1972 to 1977, and as mayor from 1975 to 1977 – the first woman to hold that office.

She was a longtime member of the League of Women Voters and was the Mansfield Chapter President from 1968 to 1969. She was known for her hard work on many league studies. A loyal Democrat, she was a member of the Mansfield Democratic Town Committee. Her service to the community earned her the Citizen of the Year Award from the Mansfield Business Association in 1977. She received the League of Women Voters of Connecticut Susan B. Anthony Award in 2003 for her service to the League and to the Town of Mansfield. She was a supreme planner and organizer and enjoyed lively debates about ideas. Audrey was a strong believer in the democratic process, education, and women’s rights.

In 1983, she became a member of the Mansfield Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands Commissions and chaired the Mansfield Planning and Zoning Committee from 1993 to 2004. She served as a member of the Correctional Facility Liaison & Public Safety Committee from 1988-2011, the Town-University Relations Committee from 1996 to 2004, and the Mansfield Discovery Depot, Inc. (fka Mansfield Day Care Center, Inc.) Committee.

Audrey was born on October 27, 1929, in Stamford, Connecticut, the daughter of the late Raymond and Emma (Herbst) Havican, “two days before the stock market crash”, as she used to say. Audrey grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut, and graduated from Crosby High School. She completed her undergraduate degree in French at Wellesley College in 1951. From 1952 to 1956, she taught French and English at Cheshire High School in Cheshire, Connecticut. Audrey completed her Master of Arts degree in French at the University of Connecticut in 1956.

She married the love of her life, Gene J. Barberet, a professor of French at the University of Connecticut, in 1956 and enjoyed 64 years of happy marriage with him. He cared for her in her illness until he could no longer do so.

A Francophile, she assisted her husband on three year-long study abroad trips to Rouen, France, with students from the University of Connecticut. She worked as a foreign study advisor at the University of Connecticut and taught French as a part-time lecturer at Eastern Connecticut State College (now Eastern Connecticut State University).

In retirement, she would delight in taking summer road trips around France – although each trip had to include Paris so she could rapture at the view from the Pont Alexandre III. At home, she participated in the Causeries (French conversation table) at the Mansfield Senior Center. She was a faithful parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel in Storrs. Audrey adored chocolate, ballroom dancing, tap dancing, and her bridge group. She delighted in the natural beauty of Mansfield, and she loved family summer vacations at the shore in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

She is predeceased by her husband, Gene J. Barberet; her brother, Raymond V. Havican; and her sister, Janice H. Triano, and survived by a daughter, Rosemary Barberet (Fernando Rodríguez Marín) of Darien, Connecticut, and a son, John Barberet (Leigh) of Winter Haven, Florida. She has four grandchildren: Fernando, Tomás, Dylan, and Jack, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A mass will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, 46 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, Connecticut at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 24th, followed by burial at Storrs Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be sent to the League of Women Voters https://www.lwv.org and the Alumnae Memorial Book Fund at Wellesley College www.wellesley.edu/give.