We lost a really, really good one...

JAMES DALE BARTON, 86 passed away on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 4:15 pm in the comfort of his home.  Jim, as he was known was born in Frenchtown, Ohio on January 24, 1928 to the late Albert and Florence (Barga) Barton.  He was married to Wanetta Gibbs, who preceded him in death on April 14, 1984.  Jim was preceded in death by two step-daughters; Mary Lou Supinger and Ruth VanFossen.  Also preceding him in death were three brothers:  Donald Barton, Jerome Barton and Marion Barton who was killed during the invasion of Africa at the age of 22.  It was 2 years before the body of Marion ever came back to Bradford via a train.  He is survived by eight stepgrandchildren, and numerous great-stepgrandchildren.

Jim grew up on a farm in the Frenchtown/Versailles community and the family moved to Bradford, Ohio when he was in the 4th grade.  During his high school years, he worked at the local movie theatre running a projector, popping popcorn and cleaning up after the movies.  He ultimately graduated from Bradford High School in the year 1946.  Jim most recently attended his class reunion on Saturday, May 27, 2014 which was held at the newly built Bradford High School.  Upon graduation, many or most of his classmates went on a class trip but Jim chose to join the U.S. Army and so he left for basic training 2 weeks after graduating from high school.  He was stationed in the Philippines during World War II.

Upon completion of his military stint, there were no jobs in Bradford, and very, very few in other local cities so he accepted a job at the Westerville Creamery in Bradford at the rate of $.55 an hour.  He worked in the factory processing canned milk.  After a period of time, he started driving a truck for the Westerville Creamery delivering canned milk.  This is how he got his start as a truck driver and was employed at Sidney Truck & Storage for 30 years before retiring from truck driving.

Upon his retirement, he found it necessary to become employed once again so he obtained a position with Jim Brown Chevrolet in Sidney.  After that, Jim was also employed by Dan Hemm Car Dealership in Sidney.  He enjoyed gardening and cared for his many plants and especially his roses on a daily basis.  He also liked to raise the Celosia or Cockscomb plants which grew to giant sizes.

He followed a daily routine, and that was of getting up early and going to Clancy's for toast and coffee, every morning at 7:00 am.  Then he would come home and do his yard work, as he would say.  Jim led a simple life with no television but enjoyed listening to the Cincinnati Reds on the radio.  He would sit on his swing on his front porch and appreciate the finer things in life, such as the blue sky, the green grass and all of his flowers.  He became acquainted with the next door neighbors dogs i.e. two labs:   Lily (black lab) and Pinky (yellow lab).  He would go to the neighbors on a more than once daily basis to see these 4-legged friends and during the summer months, they had their routine... they would sit together by the fence, looking toward Jim's back door and then bark.  Once he heard them bark for a treat, he would exit his back door with a treat for them… they had an adoration one for the other - Jim for them and they for Jim.

Jim liked attending the fairs and entering his roses in the hopes of obtaining a blue ribbon which he did on multiple occasions.  He always liked to stop by the ice cream parlor and have some strawberry ice cream, his favorite.

In addition, being the dedicated veteran that he was, he had gone 9 times on the Vets to Washington, D.C. trip once as a veteran and 8 times as a caregiver.    He would return from each trip with a camera full of pictures and stories from individuals that he had met along the way.  He had plans of going on the trip in September, 2014 and was readying himself to do so.  He is a strong proponent of our military community.  Thank you Jim Barton for your service.

Always do more than is required of you! 
(This was one of Jim's standards for anything that had to do with the Vets to DC group and Vets in general.  He told this to all newcomers to the committee and then led be example.)

Hooah