J. T. Barnes - 1963
BIO & Picture

J.T. (“Jay”) Barnes - 2003-09-23
From Hickman’s halls I turned immediately to those at MU in the fall of ‘63.  Two unremarkable years there concluded with enlistment in the Marine Corps, and that in turn led to service in Viet Nam.  I paid much more attention there to the workings of rifles and machine guns than I had to any of MU’s courses.  Studies were resumed after discharge in 1968, this time aiming for a degree in Public Administration, and now with the personal encouragement and financial support of a new wife, a Viet Nam pen-pal, the former Shirley Bigham, an elementary school teacher from Bisbee, AZ.  Things went much better this time and the BS in PA finally came in 1970.

On graduation I took a job with the Veterans Administration in St Louis as a Claims Examiner, the first of many jobs and assignments covering a 30 year career with the VA.  Job transfers eventually took us from St Louis to Reno, NV, to Honolulu, HI, to Wichita, KS, to Waco, Tx, and back to Wichita in that time, working initially in Management Analysis and later in station management administering veterans benefit programs, and during the last three years, in hospital administration as well.

I took early federal retirement in 2000 to work in environmental education and advocacy in Kansas.  I now have three years in as Executive Director of Kansas Natural Resource Council, a statewide nonprofit working for a healthy environment and official policies of sustainable use of natural resources.  Legislative lobbying, state agency monitoring, membership recruitment, fundraising, and newsletter publication are all included activities of the ED position.  I also serve on the board of three other nonprofits.

Shirley and I celebrated our 35th anniversary this summer.  She worked for many temporary services as my job opportunities required moving around.  She works now for Koch Industries, largest privately held oil co. in US, as a Legal Technician in their international section, a job that has led to many contacts and friendships for both of us in the UK, Europe, and around the world.  We also ran a small mail order book business (“Wolf Song Books, Maps, and Paper Collectibles”) out of our home from the mid-‘80s to the late ‘90’s.

We long ago purchased property for retirement in a forest community along The Rim in northern Arizona.  We enjoy traveling in the southwest US and the UK and plan to continue that in “real” retirement at some unspecified future time.  I enjoy a substantial collection of rare Western Americana books and occasional writing as a member of the Prairie Writer’s Circle, a syndicate for op-ed writers focusing on environmental and other progressive issues, and three years ago I was introduced to the quasi-religion of trout fishing and became a devout follower.

Personal Philosophy:  It’s been a good go-round so far and there is much work to be done before I’m through.

Favorite Quote:  “Saving the planet is not a spectator sport.” Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute