JEFF & GERTIE BARNETT
Jeff and Gertie Barnett have been married 60 years and have a daughter, Janis Shuffield, of Orange, CA. Both the Barnetts are 80 years old and still very active in our community. Their marriage plans did not get off to a very good start. Although Gertie and Jeff were both 20 years old and had been dating for some time, her dad felt she already had a good home and didn't need to marry, even though he liked Jeff. One night after a Literary Society meeting, they decided to elope. Just as they were leaving, all the lanterns went out and the meeting broke up. After traveling down the road a ways with horse and buggy, the tongue of the buggy was broken by a large rock on the edge of the road. Worrying other members from the meeting would soon be along, the young couple unhitched the horses from the buggy and rode to the home of friends nearby. There they borrowed a buggy to complete the trip. After their marriage, Gertie said it was five months before her dad invited them back to visit. He finally did accept it and before his death, he lived his final days with them. Mrs. Barnett was born in Gardi, GA, July 3, 1900 to T.L. and Katie Waite. She has lived 70 years in Scott County, attending schools at Shiloh and Blansett. Mr. Barnett was born close to Blansett, June 28, 1900. His parents were Lee and Lena Barnett. A resident of Scott County all 80 years of his life, he attended schools at Unity and Denton. Jeff has worked in the woods all of his life cutting and hauling saw logs. He began at age 8 helping his dad with a team of mules. Even now as "retired," he knows the Ouachita National Forest so well he still scouts timber sales for the Big Pine Lumber Co.
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Copyright 2009 by Delaine Edwards.
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