Franklin T. Barnhart

Franklin T. Barnhart quietly passed from this world to the next on November 5, 2022. He was born August 19, 1929 to Oscar and Mary Alice Barnhart in Columbia, MO, the oldest of 3 children, sisters Mary Ellen McCoy and Ruth Ann Aldag. As a teenager, Frank loved all things outdoors and firearms. He founded a gun club with some of his very best friends on his parents’ property, Green Valley Gun Club, which still exists today in Hallsville, MO and hosts the annual national Bianchi Cup Championships.

While studying forestry management at the University of Missouri, Frank met Marjorie Schultz in 1950 while she was attending Stephens College. In 1951, he volunteered for the Army, received artillery training at Ft Sill, OK, and then shipped overseas to Korea in 1952. He survived over 30 reconnaissance missions and several enemy incursions, one with the help of the battleship USS Missouri, stationed offshore 25 miles, to which he called in the artillery strikes on the enemy’s position. He returned home in 1953, married Marjorie Schultz in Tacoma, WA, then returned to Columbia to finish his forestry degree.

He had a variety of forestry assignments in his career, starting in 1955 in Dufur, OR on the Mt Hood National Forest, 1960 in Hines on the Ochoco Forest, 1965 in Reedsport on the Siuslaw Forest, and his final move 2 years later was to Grants Pass, on the Siskiyou National Forest. During his 31-year career, he spent many summers fighting fires and walked untold miles for timber sales. While in Reedsport, he was a logging specialist and developed directional falling and helicopter logging due to steep terrain.

During his marriage to Marjorie, they had 4 children, Deby Barnhart (Ed Blatter), Cindy Johnson (Mike), Becky Bellingham (Brad), and Charles Barnhart (Paula).

Following their divorce in 1974, a childhood friend introduced him to Josephine Abegg, and they were later married in 1976, creating an extended family with her 5 children, Sharon Marino, Pene Wendell, Sandi Abegg, Hal Abegg (Christa), and Julie Labrum.

Frank was an elder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Merlin ward of Grants Pass. He served a 2-year mission with his wife, Josephine, at the Medford Employment Center. He was selfless in giving of himself in service of others, both in the Church and the community.

He enjoyed everything about the outdoors – wood cutting, hunting and competitive marksmanship, firearm safety, and annual family camping trips around the state. He helped build and support a shooting club every place he lived.

Everyone who knows him knew him to be a man of honor, integrity, and a gentle man. He was dedicated to his career, an avid hunter and competitor, and a devoted husband and father. He was the finest person we all knew and aspired to be like him.

Frank is preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Mary Alice, his wife Josephine, his sisters Mary Ellen and Ruth Ann, grandson Bryan Bellingham, stepdaughter Sharon Marino, step-grandson Ryan Wendell, and step-great-granddaughter, Evelyn Flynn.

Frank is survived by his 4 children and 7 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. He is survived also by 4 stepchildren and 13 step-grandchildren, and 26 step-great-grandchildren, and 2 step-great-great grandchildren.

Remembrance celebration service will be at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Hugo, OR on November 12, 2022 at 11:00am.

Condolences to the family can be sent to Hull & Hull Funeral Service at www.since1928hull.com.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Josephine County Sportsman Association, the National Rifle Association, and the Oregon Health Sciences Center for Research in Parkinson’s Disease.

Private interment will be at the Eagle Point Cemetery, Eagle Point, OR.