Daddy,. Thank you for helping to clear up the mess last month..a check arrived right when mom needed it most..saved the day you did...further proof that you are watching over mom and us...and always have been.  Without that money she would have been in a bad way financially. It came out of the blue when she needed.it most...thank you pops..still watching her I can feel it...see you soon big bastard....this place has worn me out...  But knowing what to do was your thing...and I sure enough need some of that right now...I love you Pop...sleep well...see you soon old man...I miss you. Darren

Well it's been 5yrs. now & not a day goes by that I don't think about you dad. Mom's having a bad time without you, she doesn't try to do any of the things you might remember her doing for you or with you. She nolonger talks to anyone her depression is very high. I told you I would always be there for mom, i made you a promise on the night before you left us, you and I had a long talk, I told you I would always take care of her, I'm doing my best at keeping that promise, we miss you every day of every week of every year. There's days I wonder if I'm going to be able to keep my word. Then I relieze that my word is all I have now. No matter how bad it gets I will always take care of mom like you asked me to. I think I miss you more today than yesterday. You will always be in my heart, and in my mind... I  love you Dad and I miss you so much.

I loved Uncle Marvin with all my heart. He lived with me before he went in the service, and after he got out. We had a special couch for him and my mother Sylvia was one of his older sisters that had looked out for him. I have so many stories of Marvin from his very first mariage, to him leaving with Maxine to California to live a life I am so proud to know he lived and now to know how loved he was also there. 

Marvin when younger, could go into a kitchen that everyone just went and trolled for something to eat and found nothing and could come out with a plate of food that would make everyone scratch their heads, and wonder, where did he find all that food.

I think my Mom had a great deal to do with Marvins morals and being raised. She whooped him with a belt bent over her kitchen counter one time because of a wrong he did. She tore his but up. I have a video of my mom, telling when she did it.....

I have so many stories, I will at times log back in....and post another......

love all.... 

WELL MY GRANDPA... WHAT CAN I SAY THAT I HAVENT ALREADY SAID. HES WAS AN AMAZING MAN. I HAVE SO MANY MEMORIES. I REMEMBER WHEN HE CAME TO STAY WITH AUNT BIGGIE IT WAS SO FUNNY, BECAUSE THEY LOOOOOVED SPICY FOODS. SO THEM AND MY MOM WENT TO THE STORE AND BOUGHT LIFE 500 [EXAGGERATING] PEPPERS TO MAKE SALSA. LOL. AND THE Y GOT LIKE THE HOTTEST PEPPERS IN THE WORLD! I DIDNT UNDERSTAND HOW THEY COULD EAT THEM! I WAS LIKE CRYING JUST FROM SMELLING THEM! LOL. BUT THEY EAT THE CRAP OUTTA THEM! I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT. NOR THE TIME HE GAVE ME FAKE MONEY. HE SAID IT WAS FOR ALL MY HARD WORK IN SCHOOL IT WASNT REAL, BUT IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY I WILL ALWAYS HAVE IT TO REMEMBER HIM ALONG WITH A PICTURE I KEEP WITH IT. SO IM NEVER GONNA FORGET HIM. AND I WILL NEVER FORGET THESE TIMES. I LOVE YOU GRANDPA. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN. 
- YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER JANA MICHEAL SMITH. 

We laid Dad to rest yesterday, it was a very touching ceremony, even when the cow mooed at the finish of taps. I feel like that was Dad letting us know he was there watching over us cause he always talked about milking the cows when he was a boy. Mom said the scenery around there looked just like Texas land and Dad would really like it there. While we were waiting for service to begin I saw rabbits hopping in the rocks and cows on the hills, I also saw a hawk flying overhead. It was really beautiful there. Rest in Pease Dad I love you and will always remember you, and all the ways you touched my life.

During the serimony when the preist was reading the emails from this memorial. He had read one about grandpa Marvins neice with a broken arm. It brought back a memory when grandpa helped me. I was young & playing in the back yard. I had fallen on a stack of bobwire and screamed. I really thought I was gonna die lol. Grandpa was the firthest person from me. But yet he was the first one to me. He had first got me to calm down because I was crying histeractly & my sister Jessica was right there watching infact before grandpa got to me I was telling Jessica my goodbyes lol I'm telling you I was really young :). He told me it was going to be okay & I told him no how are we going to get that out because I don't know how It punctured through but the whole was tiny & the peice that punctured through was huge. I'm sure you can imagine bobwire lol. Well grandpa told me to take a deep breathe & it would be out before I know it & He yanked it out. He was right I did not feel anything & right after he got it out I laughed. Grandpa was so helping & caring. I am really going to miss him. I wish I did not drift away these last years. that is a regret of mine. I love you grandpa Marvin & I will always think of you.

MARVIN RAY BARNFIELD,  BORN JANUARY 21, 1942 AT LORRAINE TEXAS.  TO ALICE AND LEE BARNFIELD.  HE WAS THE NINTH CHILD OF SIXTEEN CHILDREN.  HE HAD FOUR SURVIVING BROTHERS AND ONE SISTER.             DESSIE LYNCH, HARRY, LARRY, BRUCE , ELGIE BARNFIELD.

     FALL OF 1967 HE WAS DRAFTED INTO THE UNITED STATES ARMY. WHILE WORKING ON THE ALASKA PIPELINE.  AS AN X-RAY TECHNICIAN. X-RAYING WELDED SEAMS ON THE PIPELINE. AT KENAI ALASKA. HE WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD.  HE DID BASIC TRAINING AT FORT BENNING GEORGIA.  HE TRAINED AS A TANK DRIVER.  ALSO WAS RATED EXPERT MARKSMAN. HE ARRIVED IN VIETNAM EARLY IN DECEMBER 1967.  WAS WOUNDED IN ACTION. AND RECEIVED THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART.  WAS WOUNDED THREE MORE TIMES DURING HIS TWO TOURS. IN COUNTRY.  WAS PROMOTED SEVERAL TIMES DURING HIS TIME THERE AND DEMOTED JUST AS FAST..  MY FATHER WAS A CHARACTER.. AS ALL WHO KNEW HIM WILL  ATTEST..... HE WAS HONORABLY DISCHARGED IN LATE 1969 AFTER A TREE FELL ON HIS TANK DURING A FIREFIGHT AND CRUSHED HIM AGAINST THE TURRET OF HIS TANK.
        HE OFTEN SAID THAT HE WAS ONLY ALLOWED TO TALK TO HIS T-C(TANK COMMANDER) OVER HIS RADIO HEADSET.  NOT ON OPEN FREQUENCIES. OR TO ANYONE ELSE ON THE RADIO..BECAUSE HE CURSED TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN...DURING FIRE MISSIONS OR WHEN THEY WERE TAKING FIRE FROM THE ENEMY. HE WOULD LAUGH AND SAY "I GUESS IT OFFENDED THEIR TENDER SENSIBILITIES".  HE LOVED TO TALK OF HIS TIME IN COUNTRY AND MOST OF HIS STORIES HAD LIFE LESSONS HIDDEN IN THE SUBTEXT FOR US BOYS..                                                                                   I LOVED TO HEAR HIM TALK OF HIS LIFE. HE WAS AND ALWAYS SHALL BE THE YARDSTICK BY WHICH I MEASURE MYSELF..I PRAY THAT SOMEDAY I WILL BE HALF THE MAN THAT HE WAS...RATHER THEY ADMIT IT OR NOT MY BROTHERS FEEL MUCH THE SAME WAY...                                       WHEN MY MOTHER MARRIED HIM SHE HAD FIVE KIDS AND IT TOOK A SPECIAL KIND OF MAN TO DEAL WITH US.. HE WAS HARD WHEN HE NEEDED TO BE. UNDERSTANDING AND KIND WHEN WE NEEDED HIM TO BE AS WELL.  HE OPENED HIS HEART TO US WHEN WE WERE HURTING. DIDN'T HESITATE TO PADDLE OUR BACKSIDES WHEN WE NEEDED THAT TOO. WAS STRICT AND UNBENDING WHEN WE PUSHED BACK..AS WE OFTEN DID IN THOSE EARLY YEARS..BUT THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED..  I TOLD HIM AFTER I WAS GROWN AND HAD CHILDREN OF MY OWN.  THAT I TURNED OUT TO BE A GOOD MAN BECAUSE OF HIM..  I HUGGED HIS NECK AND SAID "THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU DAD"