Jim Barnes,
Tooele, was born in Dexter, Missouri in 1951, moved to
Chicago at age 6, and grew to marry his next door neighbor
Minnie in 1970. Married for almost 38 years with three
children, he is proud to say he is still deeply in love with
her.
Jim served
in the U.S. Army for eight years with tours in Vietnam as a
Door Gunner and in Korea as a Communications Specialist.
Stateside, he served in the 101st Airborne Division (later
the Air Assault Division) at Fort Campbell, the Eighteenth
Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg and on extended temporary duty
Fort Drum, Fort Stewart and Fort Gordon. While in the Army
he was transferred to Dugway Proving Ground as the Air
Traffic Control Repairman. When he received orders for
Germany, he and Minnie chose to leave active duty and
remained at Dugway working as a Department of Army
civilian. His civilian career began first as a Security
Guard. Jim’s subsequent jobs included Telephone Repairman,
Instrumentation Specialist in Test Operations Division,
Senior Instrumentation Specialist responsible for Chemical
and Biological Agent Chamber Testing and the Robotic
Mannequin development, and finally after attending the Army
Management Staff College at Fort Belvoir, he became Chief
of Instrumentation Branch responsible for all Electronic
Data Collection at Dugway Proving Ground. He retired in 2005
and to keep busy, started working at the Stansbury Golf
Course during the summer, attends classes at the IRS during
December and January, and through AARP, Jim provides free
tax services with electronic filing at both the Tooele and
Grantsville Senior Centers. In 2007, he became the Utah
State Technical Coordinator for AARP responsible for all
technical issues and equipment for all the volunteers
throughout the state.
As a member
or the Tooele Elks Lodge for 18 years, Jim has had numerous
roles serving his lodge and the Utah Elks Association. He
has held lodge officer positions for all but one of his 18
years. For the state association, his first committee
chairmanship was as Scholarship Chairman and later became
Youth Activities Chairman. He was chosen as the Utah North
District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler and currently serves as
Treasurer for the Utah Benevolent Trust; Director of Camp
Wapiti, the Major Project of the Utah Elks Association; and
Secretary of the UEA Past State President / Past District
Deputy Association.
Being an
Elk means a great deal to Jim and it shows as he is
extraordinarily involved, enjoying every minute. He
actually looked at two other local fraternal organizations
to see what was being done by each organization before
deciding to become an Elk. Growing up in Chicago, Jim and
Minnie lived about 7 blocks from the National Elks offices
and Elks Veterans Memorial. Though he had seen it many times
he had never given it much thought. Their daughter Michelle
was born a half block from the Elks Headquarters while he
was in Vietnam - she is now married. There are two other
Barnes children, Nicole born in North Carolina near Fort
Bragg and Jay who was born in Tooele. Minnie and Jim Barnes
are proud grandparents of Victoria and Ellyn.
Jim
believes all Elks can be proud of what Elks do. He has met
many really good people as an Elk, and treasures each and
every friendship made. Working for the government afforded
him the opportunity to travel all over the United States.
Visiting local Elks lodges whenever possible, including
Puerto Rico (where their meetings are held on the beach),
Jim estimates he has visited almost 100 different lodges.
What he has discovered to be true is that when you are an
Elk, you have friends all over the United States. Although
you have never met them, they are there to help you out
during times of trouble. For Jim, to be an Elk means having
a very big family.
During his
time in government service, Jim received the Department of
the Army Research and Development Achievement Award for 1995
for the Robotic Mannequin Development. As an Elk, Jim
Barnes was awarded the state of Utah Elk of the Year Award
for 2007 – 2008 at the recent UEA State Convention in Cedar
City. At that same meeting, his fellow Elks elected Jim 2nd
Vice President of the Utah Elks Association.
Fraternally,
