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Submitted: 9/10/14 • Approved: 9/13/14 • Last Updated: 4/13/18 • R756085-G0-S3
1915 - 4 Dec 1960 Denton, Pemiscot, MO
Son of Walter Albert Barnard and Lena Belle Lester
After shooting his estranged wife in the back as she ran from the house, Willard Barnard went a few paces away and shot himself in the head with a .22-caliber pistol about nine o'clock Sunday morning, December 4.
Barnard was 46 years old and his wife, Emma Mae, was 37. They had been separated about two months, according to officer's who had been called to the home on occasions of previous quarreling.
Mrs. Barnard was taken to Pemiscot Memorial Hospital at Hayti and is reported in a critical condition.
Barnard was in ill health and drank heavily, officers stated. Mrs. Barnard had filed for divorce, it was reported.
They had 11 children, 6 sons and 5 daughters. Their chief support for several years had been their Welfare check.
Survivors of Mr. Barnard are two brothers, Walter and Dewey of near Steele; five sisters, Mrs. Virgie Vied, Mrs. Edna Morton and Mrs. Ann Hodges, all of near Steele, Mrs. Viola Chestnut of New Kessington, Pa. and Mrs. Edith Wiggs of Lamber, Mississippi.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at 2 p.m. from the German Funeral Home chapel in Steele, conducted by Rev. Roy Handley, pastor of Pentecostal Church of God. Burial was in the Barnard family cemetery, near Denton.
Democrat Argus - Caruthersville, Missouri - Friday, Demember 9, 1960
Contributed on 9/10/14 by ttack
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Record #: 756085