BARNABY, Glenn Arthur "Poke" - b. May 21, 1915 - d. March 20, 2007

[Janet Harrington]

(From the Flint Hills Express, March 21, 2007, page 4)

Glenn Arthur Barnaby passed away on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at the Fredonia Regional Medical Center in Fredonia.  He was 91 years of age and a former resident of Longton.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, at the Longton United Methodist Church.  Interment will be held at the Longton Cemetery.  A memorial has been established with the Longton Elk County Free Fair.  Contributions may be left with the funeral home.  The funeral arrangements are being made with the Zimmerman Funeral Home in Howard.

(A complete obituary will be printed in next week's newspaper and I will post it when I get it.)
...

(From the Independence Daily Reporter March 21, 2007)

Glenn Arthur "Poke" Barnaby, 91, of Longton, died Tuesday at the Fredonia REgional medical Center.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Longton United methodist Church with Pastor Ron Bradley and Pastor Robin Haines officiating.  Interment will be at the Longton Cemetery.

Friends may call at Zimmerman Funeral Home in Howard from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.  Friday, with the family receiving friends from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Memorials are suggested to the Elk County Free Fair Association of Longton and donations may be left with the funeral home.

Mr. Barnaby was born May 21, 1915 on a farm in Elk County near Howard, the son of O. S. "Sam" and Jessie Eva (Draper) Barnaby.  He attended rural schools near Longton and graduated from Longton High School in 1934.  He was employed by Longton area farmers after graduating from high school.

On Nov. 26, 1941, he married Agnes Weber in Longton.  She died in 1996.

He joined the United States Army in 1942 and served in the European Theatre during World War II.  After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Kansas and bought his first farm north of the Upola community near Longton.  He remained a farmer and rancher in the Longton area throughout his life and had been living in Fredonia in recent years.

Mr. Barnaby was the mayor of Longton for 18 years.  He was a member of the Longton Senior Citizens, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.  He was also active with the Elk County Free Fair in Longton.

He is survived by two sons, Art Barnaby, Manhattan, and Richard Barnaby, Valley Center; a sister, Mildred Bryan, Independence; five grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

[Ms Bear]

Janet, Thankyou for posting this and Lois for letting me know to watch for it.  Although I didn't know him or any of his family, Glen Barnaby was my late father's cousin.  I don't know if my father ever met any of this family or not.  He didn't talk much about family.

[Janet Harrington]

Glen was a pretty good guy.  At coffee the other day, we were talking about him.  He was a bus driver for Howard when his wife was teaching here.  One of the guys said that if the students got to loud and acting up, Poke would just slam on the breaks, throw the students around, (of course), and when they quieted down because of the shock, he would say, you are getting too rowdy.  That's one way to correct it.

I worked an accident of his one time.  It wasn't his fault.  He was behind someone on a street next to the Longton Co-op and all of a sudden this other guy just backs up into Poke.  Poke was just as calm as he could be about it.

Later on in my service to Elk County, I did get to worrying about Poke's driving as he would go out to his property northeast of Longton everyday.  He drove slow, didn't use turn signals, and when it was time to turn off the highway, he would just turn.  I was so afraid that he would get killed by someone slamming into him while he turned that corner, but he never did.  He probably knew he was driving okay, but he sure made me nervous.

Just reading his obit tells you that he was a good guy.  He held the position of mayor of Longton for 18 years.  Apparently, the citizens of Longton respected his leadership.  Now, all we can say is, Poke Barnaby, you will be missed.