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Locke Larkin, health inspector and gourmet food retailer, dies at 79

In 1976, Larkin purchased a former farmhouse on Stockbridge Road that had fallen into disrepair. He fixed it up and relocated Locke Stock & Barrel there.
In Locke Larkin’s memory, the Great Barrington Town Hall flag flies at half-mast through Monday. Photo: David Scribner

Great Barrington — Locke Larkin, a town official and the longtime owner of the popular gourmet food and wine store Locke Stock & Barrel, died on Monday, Jan. 13. He was 79.

Larkin was also an inspector in the town health department. Great Barrington town manager Mark Pruhenski confirmed Larkin’s passing Wednesday morning and convened a staff meeting Tuesday to break the news. No cause of death was disclosed.

“His presence will surely be missed here in Town Hall and our condolences go out to his family,” Pruhenski told The Edge. The Town Hall flag was ordered to fly at half-mast in Larkin’s honor through Monday.

Larkin was born Aug. 21, 1940, according to a brief announcement posted by the Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements for the family.

Larkin graduated Westfield State College and was working as a school teacher when he decided to open the store to keep himself busy in the summers. He started Locke Stock & Barrel in 1968 on Rosseter Street in a building that formerly housed a feed and grain operation, according to a story published on the website of BerkShares, an innovative local currency.

Locke Stock & Barrel on Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington. Photo courtesy Pinterest

Click here to read the article, which also includes the audio of an interview with Larkin, whose father and grandfather had earlier run Larkin’s Market on Railroad Street.

In 1976, Larkin purchased a former farmhouse on Stockbridge Road that had fallen into disrepair. He fixed it up and relocated Locke Stock & Barrel there, according to “Around Great Barrington,” a book authored by local historian Gary Leveille. The property, which also includes two apartments, was listed for sale by William Pitt Sotheby’s.

Great Barrington Board of Health member Ruby Chang and health inspector Locke Larkin at a September 2019 meeting. Photo: Terry Cowgill

Pruhenski said Larkin started working for the town in 2006 as a health inspector in the town health department, was appointed animal inspector in 2014 and has worked full-time for the town since 2017.

Finnerty & Stevens says the funeral service for Larkin will be Monday, Jan. 20, at noon at the funeral home in Great Barrington, and will be conducted by Rev. William Murphy. Burial with military honors will follow at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Great Barrington. The family will receive friends Monday, Jan. 20, from 10 a.m. until the time of the service.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Locke Larkin Memorial Fund in care of Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. The full obituary can be found here.

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