Charlotte Gillett Barnes

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40894846/charlotte-lancraft-barnes

DECATUR NEWSPAPER FEB 23, 1953

MRS. BARNES, CIVIC LEADER, DIES IN HOME

MRS. WILLIAM BARNES, SR., 87, A LIFE LONG CIVIC LEADER AND WIDOW OF THE WIDELY KNOWN DECATUR SURGEON, DIED AT 8 AM YESTEDAY IN HER HOME AT 467 W. WILLIAM ST. MRS. BARNES WAS ACTIVE IN NUMEROUS CIVIC, CHURCH AND WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS. SHE WAS A TALENTED PIANIST AND MAINTAINED AN ACTIVE INTEREST IN MUSIC THROUGHTOUT HER LIFE. MRS. BARNES WAS CHARLOTTE LANCRAFT GILLETT, THE 11TH AND YOUNGEST CHILD OF THE LATE JOHN DEAN AND LEMIRA PARKE GILLETT.

HER FATHER SETTLED IN ILLINOIS AS A YOUNG MAN, ACQUIRED EXTENSIVE FARMLANDS IN LOGAN AND SURROUNDING COUNTIES AND WAS A RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY THROUGHTOUT THE COUNTRY ON FARMING AND CATTLE BREEDING. THE FAMILY MOVED TO ELKHART, ILL, IN 1868.

MRS. BARNES EDUCATION WAS COMPLETED AT MISS PUTNAMS SEMINARY IN BOSTON WHERE SHE STUDIED PIANO AND MAJORED IN MUSIC. HER INTEREST IN MUSIC WAS SO KEEN THAT IN HER LATE 60S SHE ENROLLED AS A MUSIC STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA TO STUDY UNDER MADAM ELEANOR ALTMAN.

ON JUNE 18, 1891, SHE WAS MARRIED TO DR. WILLIAM BARNES OF DECATUR, AND MADE HER HOME HERE THE REST OF HER LIFE. SHE WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL ORGANIZERS OF THE DECATUR DAY NURSERY ASSOCIATION AND FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS WAS PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. SHE WAS ALSO A MEMBER AND LATER AN HONORARY MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF DECATUR AND MACON COUNTY HOSPITAL AND AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF ST JOHNS EPISCOPAL CHURCH. MRS. BARNES WAS THE LAST SURVIVING CHARTER MEMEBER OF STEPHEN DECATUR CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, A LIFE MEMBER OF THE COUNTRY CLUB OF DECATUR AND THE DECATUR CLUB AND A PATRONESS OF SIGMA ALPHA IOTA, MUSIC SOROORITY AT MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY.

DURING HER HUSBANDS LIFE MRS. BARNES HOME WAS A MEETING PLACE FOR MANY NOTED ENTYMOLOGISTS WHO CAME HERE TO SEE DR. BARNES WORLD FAMED COLLECTION OF BUTTERFLIES, WHICH IS NOW IN THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION IN WASHINGTON. MRS. BARNES TRAVELED WIDELY IN EUROPE AND THE NEAR EAST AND EVEN IN HER LATER YEARS TOOK HER GRANDCHILDREN ON SEVERAL TRIPS ABROAD.

DR. BARNES DIED MAY 1, 1930 AND THEIR SON, WILLIAM BARNES JR. PRESIDENT OF THE CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK DIED MARCH 27 1950.

MRS. BARNES LEAVES HER DAUGHTER JOAN DEAN GILLETT, NOW MRS. SELIM W. MCARTHUR OF GLENVIEW, ILL, HER DAUGHER-IN-LAW, MRS. WILLIAM BARNES JR AND FOUR GRANDCHILDREN, MRS. JOAN GILLETT MCARTHUR MACKINNON AND MRS. CONSTANCE ELIZABETH MCARTHUR DUNSHEE OF GLENVIEW, WILLIAM BARNES III, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK HERE AND MRS. GLORIA BARNES VAN NORDEN OF NEW YORK. SHE ALSO LEAVES NINE GREAT GRANDCHILDREN.

FUNERAL SERVICES WILL BE HELD AT 3PM TUESDAY IN THE DAWSON AND WIKOFF FUNERAL HOME. CREMATION WILL FOLLOW. THE FAMILY REQUESTS THAT THERE BE NO FLOWERS.