Glenda Ree was born April 4, 1931 in Noxapater, MS to Thomas Leonard Quinn and Mazie Berniece Taylor Quinn. She graduated from Noxapater High School, and then attended East Central Community College. She did not complete her degree because she chose to marry the love of her life and become a stay at home mother to her four children. She lived most of her life in Alexandria, LA before returning to her hometown in June 1998 where her husband, Billy S. Barnes, retired. Although she lived most of her life in the aforementioned places, she did have to live in another country for a period of a couple of years. Glenda Ree, with much trepidation, agreed to move with her children to Guatemala City, Guatemala in the late 60’s for her husband’s US AID Agricultural specialist job. Even though this was a daunting and scary decision, as usual she made a warm, safe and comfortable home for her husband and children. She adapted fairly quickly to a foreign land and even learned to speak some Spanish. She discovered the Guatemalan people had a love and talent for carving wooden pieces of art and she quickly started a unique collection.
One of Glenda Ree’s greatest challenges of her life was to accompany her husband to Seattle, Washington to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center where he was to receive a bone marrow transplant. In 1996, Glenda Ree, accompanied by her wonderful sister-in-law and brother (Tenie and Doug Quinn) helped her husband survive this arduous procedure and even harder recovery period. These three nurturing and caring people gave Glenda Ree’s husband 22 more years of life and without them the outcome may not have been as positive.
After her husband retired, they built their dream home on their land west of Noxapater where she indulged in full force her deep love of landscape gardening and horticulture. Her other hobbies included traveling to the Western United States with her husband and family and decorating her new home with the goal of providing a beautiful and comfortable setting for her loved ones. To help her accomplish this goal of creating a beautiful home she indulged in her love of shopping. She found many furnishings and objects of art to make the perfect home.
Glenda Ree Quinn Barnes is survived by her four children and her eleven grandchildren. Her children are: Jeffrey Earl Barnes (Nancy) of Houston, Texas, and their children Paul (Maria) and Sean; Gary Thomas Barnes, M.D. of Noxapater, Mississippi, and his children Corey and Delaney; Karen Barnes Gibbs (Bobby) of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and their children Kelsey, Cameron, and Connor; and Julie Barnes Camacho (Carlos) of the Woodlands, Texas, and their children Sabrina, Quentin, William, and Cathy. She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas Leonard Quinn and Mazie Berniece Taylor Quinn, and a brother Kenneth Douglas Quinn.
