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William "Bill" Barnes Jr. '74 May 3, 2018 9:23 AM updated: May 3, 2018 9:41 AM

The Rockport Pilot
Posted: Monday, March 12, 2018 3:47 pm

Barnes

William James “Bill” Barnes, Jr. left this heavenly earth on January 24, 2018, at the age of 74. The first son of William James Barnes and Lorine Moffett, he grew up on the family farm on the south side of San Antonio. After graduation at Southside Rural High School, he attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Education. There he met Carole Jean Magel, his first love. He attended New Mexico State University receiving a Masters Degree in 1966 and then worked in Santa Fe where his first son was born. They soon returned to Texas where he received a Doctor of Philosophy from Texas A&M in College Station in 1974 and added a second son.

His young family ventured to Denver, Colorado where he worked for the State Board of Education. He also founded a small family farm in LaSalle where they raised sheep for the family’s 4H projects and established a 6 acre pick-your-own truck garden. While living in Colorado he also pursued his lifetime love of hunting, fishing, reloading and being an avid outdoorsman.

A change of jobs brought him back to Texas where he worked at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M Commerce) where his sons graduated from high school. He then moved to Sweetwater, Texas, where he worked at Texas State Technical College. It was there that Carole passed away and after a period of grieving, he met Delores Bartlett, the second love of his life.

Soon after marrying Delores, he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1993 and was left disabled, unable to continue his career. It was then that he and Delores decided to spend their remaining years on the Texas coast, a place dear to his and his family’s heart for generations. He couldn’t think of a better place to spend his time fishing, hunting and wheeling & dealing at the area’s garage and estate sales. Many of his friends began as clients of his used fishing equipment business “Fishing Stuff” visiting him in his garage shop in Lamar.

After a shoulder injury, he had short rehab nursing home stay in New Braunfels where he was able to spend time again with wife Delores. Her Rockport nursing home had evacuated there after Hurricane Harvey. He was planning to return home to Lamar last week but he passed away unexpectedly and quietly in his sleep. He was a loving husband and father.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Carole and his brother Joe.

He is survived by his second wife Delores, his two sons Mark Jason (Rachel) and Scott Arno (Vicki), and his four grandchildren Zinnia, Zephyr, Emma, Abigail “Al”.

For those wishing to remember him in some way, the family asks that donations be made to the Lamar Volunteer Fire Department, a group of responders who helped Bill and many others in their time of need.
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Lux Funeral Home & Cremation Services death notice
1254 N. Business IH 35,
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Phone: (830) 624-0500
Fax: (830) 620-0501

William James Barnes, Jr.
June 7, 1943 - January 24, 2018


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