Harris Barnes Jr.

Clarksdale - HARRIS BARNES, JR., 87, died Friday, August 25, 2006 in Clarksdale. His parents were the late Harris and Lula Talley Barnes. His wife, Jamye Barnes; brothers, Jack, Bob and Ed Barnes; sister, Betty Gibbs, also preceded him in death. Mr. Barnes spent his adult life in the Mississippi Delta except for a fifteen year period in South Carolina. He graduated from Clarksdale High School and Mississippi State College. During World War II, Mr. Barnes served in the Marine Corps and fought in the Pacific. After the war, he returned to Clarksdale and began his farming career at Baugh Plantation in Sherard, MS, then to Lea Plantation in Dublin, and he spent the balance of his farming career at King and Anderson in Clarksdale. During his farming years, he began a second career of agricultural journalism and photography. After a career of farming, he became one of the editors for the Delta Farm Press and later moved to South Carolina to start the Southeastern Farm Press. His farming and journalism careers launched him into his third work of life, freelance journalism, and photography. Mr. Barnes was an avid photographer, beginning in the late 1940's, and he recorded historical material on the major crops of the South. In 2002, he published his first book, "Cotton: A Fifty Year Pictoral History." His book won two major honors, the 2004 Award of Merit from the Mississippi Historical Society and the 2006 Mississippi Author Award from the Mississippi Library Association. In 2004, he published his second book, "The Beauty of Southern Agriculture," featuring peanuts, tobacco, corn, cotton, and other crops grown in the Southeast. Mr. Barnes completed his third book, "The Good Ole Days," six days before his death, and it will be published in late September. Mr. Barnes retired from the Marine Corp Reserve in 1978 as a Colonel with thirty-seven years in the Corps. In 1967, he received the Progressive Farmer Magazine Man of the Year Award in service to Southern Agriculture. He was a past President of the American Soybean Association, a past President of the Mississippi State University Alumni Association, and a past President of the Clarksdale Rotary Club. Mr. Barnes was a member and elder emeritus in the First Presbyterian Church in Clarksdale. He is survived by his children, Harris Barnes III and his wife, Sandra, of Jackson, MS, Dudley Barnes and his wife, Claire, of Clarksdale, MS, Jim Barnes and his wife, Jane, of Knoxville, TN, and Jamye Barnes Lane and her husband, Greg, of Oklahoma City, OK. He has ten grandchildren, Patrick Barnes, Ryan Barnes, Brook Barnes, David Barnes, Bryan Barnes, Brad Barnes, Blair Riley, Beth Winterburn, Michael Lane, and Emily Lane. He also has two great-grandchildren, Lily Grace Barnes and Daveney Winterburn. Mr. Barnes is also survived by two brothers, Bill Barnes of Jackson, MS and John Barnes of Clarksdale, MS. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, August 27 at First Presbyterian Church in Clarksdale, MS. Visitation was held from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, August 26 at First Presbyterian Church in Clarksdale. The family requests that memorials be made to First Presbyterian Church in Clarksdale. Nowell Funeral Home 662-624-6218