Joseph C. Barnes

(04/04/2003) Joseph C. Barnes Aug. 12, 1913 - Apr. 1, 2003 Joseph Cullen Barnes joined his brothers for the big domino game on Tuesday, April 1, 2003. He was born in Bell County, the youngest of seven brothers and one sister, to Solomon S. Barnes and Susan Amanda Cook. While in Belton High School, he lettered in football, baseball, basketball, and track. At Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, he was a 4-year letterman in football and was selected as all-conference halfback and honorable mention for Little All-American. Joe played semi- pro baseball for Rosenberg Gulf Oil baseball team, but turned down an offer to play in the big leagues until his 85th birthday, when he pitched the first pitch at the Astros-Reds baseball game. During his college days he met, and later married, Lilla Bessonette, who survives him; along with their daughters, Bettie Liebzeit and her husband Jim, and Joelle Barnes and her husband, Alan Foley; and the love of his life, granddaughter Amanda Bird and her husband, Richard. He also leaves his other three kids, Brownie, Buffie and the Girl - the cats, and a host of nieces and nephews. He had a passion for golf, fishing, hunting, and dominoes. He shot his age on the golf course more than once, outwalked the pheasant hunters annually and shelled nearly as many pecans as Tom Lovelace could collect. Joe received his undergraduate degree from Southwestern in 1936 and his masters in 1940 from The University of Texas at Austin. He first job after graduation was as principal and coach at Academy (Little River). He was also in the school business in Hearne, San Augustine, Georgetown, Aransas Pass, Lockhart, and Belton, serving variously as superintendent, principal, teacher and coach. He was inducted into both the Southwestern University Athletic Hall of Fame and the Belton High School Hall of Fame. Joe's fondest memories were of his career in San Augustine. He was hired to revive the football program in the high school. During the first season, the team didn't win a game or score a point, but by the last season they tied for the district championship. When they laid out the football field, they only had room for 90 yards, so it was decided the teams would play the 50 yards from the goal to the center of the field, then once they crossed mid-field, they would move back 10 yards in order to have another 50 yards to go. During WWII, Joe served in the U.S. Navy as chief petty officer and was discharged in 1945 as a Lt. JG, after serving in the Naval Armed Guard on the SS Mission Buenaventura and the SS Sandy Lake. Active throughout his life in the community in one way or another, Joe served as president of the University Interscholastic League Legislative Council, the District 10 Texas State Teachers Association, and was an active member of the United Methodist Church. Joe and Lilla continued to attend homecoming reunions at the schools where they worked, but made annual appearances in San Augustine without fail. Their ``kids'' in the classes of '41 and '42 claim that everything good that happened in the next 50 years was due to the Barneses. Memorial services will be held Friday at 4:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Belton with Rev. Bobby Baggett officiating. A military burial will take place Friday at 9:15 a.m. at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The family will receive friends following the memorial service at the church. Joe Barnes touched the lives of many young people throughout Texas. In his philosophy of education, he stated that ``every child must have an even break and to try to make each pupil feel that he belongs to our family''. As the superintendent of schools prior to integration, he threw out the hand-me-down textbooks in the Carver school and bought new ones, put heaters in the gym and made sure the school paid the hospital bill of a black athlete who was injured. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial to Southwestern University, P. O. Box 770, Georgetown, TX 78627, or the Belton Enrichment Foundation, PO Box 269, Belton, Texas 76513.