Frank Barrick

Marietta Monitor

October 15, 2004, page 4

Submitted by: Martha N. Reddout

Services with military honors for Frank Barrick, 76, of Ardmore, formerly of Love County, were held at 2 p.m., Monday, October 11, in Marietta's First Baptist Church, with the Rev. Tommy Higle and the Rev. Stan Idell officiating.

Mr. Barrick was born September 1, 1928, in the Healdton oil patch, the son of John Henry and Bonnie Mae Benson Barrick. He died Saturday, October 9, 2004, in Presbyterian Hospital, Oklahoma City.

He was reared along with his five brothers, Edgar, Charlie, Fred, Ray and J.T; and five sisters, Bessie, Vivian, Velma, Juanita and Lois in Burneyville.

Frank's outstanding athletic abilities were recognized by professional baseball team scouts. He made many friends playing on the Waco Turner baseball team. He played pitcher, catcher, first base and shortstop.

Frank also loved basketball, so he sold his horse, saddle and six hogs and hitchhiked to Southeastern State University in 1946 to pursue his goal of becoming a high school coach. He was the first member of his family to attend college. Frank was an honor student and was recruited as a college junior to become a high school teacher and coach at Leon Schools at the age of 21. He recalled his beginning at Leon Schools as great training for him and expressed hope that his students did not suffer due to his youth. He always enjoyed seeing his former ballplayers and students. Frank always remembered each player's great accomplishment or skill. He truly loved his coaching career and his teams. His teaching career was interrupted by the Korean War. Frank was honorably discharged following his two years of active duty in the U.S. Army and then served six years in the National Guard.

After two years at Leon Schools, his former superintendent, Mr. Hull, called Frank to join him at Thackerville Schools as high school principal and girls and boys basketball coach. By that time, Frank had married Pat Hill and had one daughter, Sandy. In 1961, Turner Schools recruited Frank to lead the Turner School system. His son, Sam, and other daughter, Susie, were also born during his tenure at Thackerville.

Frank never applied for a school job, but he was proud to serve every school and patron with whom he worked. When the going got tough, he would remark that the "Board wants me here to do the right thing," and he always did. As he did with the affairs of all of his brothers and sisters, he had a special long-term relationship with his School Board members, Alvin Hilton, Archelowe Terrill, Gerald Hicks, Russell Freeman, R.B. Romines and others.

With Frank's leadership and the Board's guidance, Turner School patrons never turned down a bond issue. This was an accomplishment in which he took great pride. During his tenure, Turner Schools built a new cafeteria, new gym, the Russell Freeman Memorial Auditorium, and kept a 22-bus fleet of new and well-maintained buses. When he retired in 1990, the School District had no debt and a large reserve fund available.

Frank was a proponent of building the Love County Hospital and served on the Hospital Board in the 1970's. He was a past president of the Love County Retired Educators' Association and also served on the Falconhead Association Board. Frank was a member of the Burneyville Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church of Marietta.

He married Jeannine Blue Harris in 1978, and she preceded him in death on December 21, 2002.

Survivors include two daughters and sons-in-law, Sandra Jane Barrick and Ray Butler and Frankie Sue Barrick and Travis Williams; and a son and daughter-in-law, Samuel Lane and Julie Saxon Barrick, all of Ardmore; two grandchildren, Trenton and Emily of Ardmore; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Lois Barrick and Don Townsend of Oklahoma City, and their children, Kelly Baroomand, Robin Vaughn, Tracy Garner and Don Townsend Jr., and Vivian and Claud J. Bone of Marietta, and their children, Jim Bone, Susan Bell, Paula Hall and Claudia Thacker; a special nephew he called "little brother," Corky and Koweta Cartwright, and their four sons, Johnny, Alan, Josef and Bryan; a brother-in-law, Dutch Idell of Burneyville, and his children, Stanley Idell, Greg Idell, Barbara Idell, Peggy Idell Guthrie and Sherry Idell Wheatley; and a large group of great-nieces and great-nephews that he enjoyed very much.

Pallbearers were members of the 1961 Thackerville boys basketball team that advanced to the state tournament - Eddie Sampson, Don Scivally, Tom Suggs, Ray Rains, Marvin Hatcher and Dutch Langston. Honorary pallbearers were other members of the 1961 Thackerville boys basketball team (A.G. Morgan, Joe McCage, Shannon McCord, Dwight McLaughlin and Mike Dedek), and past members of the Turner School Board of Education.

Interment was in Burneyville Cemetery, under the direction of Flanagan-Watts Funeral Home, Marietta.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Burneyville Cemetery Fund, The Good Shepherd Community Health Clinic, Burneyville Baptist Church or Marietta's First Baptist Church, in care of the funeral home.