John Barker, a prominent businessman and community leader in Lumberton, is being honored for his generosity, modesty, and devotion to the state’s official colors.
What Was Johnny Barker Illness?
After suffering from pancreatic cancer since early this summer, Barker passed away at home on Friday at the age of 70. His wife Bunny and their kids Kelli and Blair are among his surviving loved ones. Friends say that while Barker served as a school board member and chairman during a tumultuous time in the county, few outside of that circle knew the full breadth of his services to the community.
“Most of his contributions were done without publicity,” said David Weinstein, a former Lumberton mayor and state senator. “He did things because he wanted to and because it was the right thing to do.”
Executive Director of United Way of Robeson County Sandra Oliver went to Littlefield High School with Barker, and the kid would later become a significant donor to United Way.
“John was just one of those people that tried to make a difference and improve our county, and he did it very quietly,” she said.
Johnny Barker Early Life
Barker spent his childhood on a tobacco farm in Robeson County. He attended and eventually graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1967, and he spent the rest of his life giving back to the school and cheering on the Tar Heels. Barker started in finance, but in 1976, he chose to strike out on his own and found success with Triangle Ice Inc.
He sold it in 2003 to Reddy Ice, the largest maker of packed ice in the United States. When the six school districts in Robeson County consolidated in 1989 to establish the Public Schools of Robeson County, he presided over the Board of Education as its chairman. Before the merger, he had been the chairman of the Lumberton City School Board.
Pete Ivey, who served on the first unified school board with Barker, recalled that Barker was the compassionate leader the council needed to steer through the transition successfully.
“It was a tough time then putting all the schools together, and he was just a great leader,” Ivey said. “One of the best things I remember about him was that he listened; he listened to everybody and got all the facts before he made a decision.”
Johnny Barker’s Profession
Barker was the chairman of the board of trustees at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in 1997 and 1998, and he served on the board for a total of 20 years. He joined Southeastern’s board of directors in 1991 and was promoted to trustee emeritus in 2012. Barker “made tremendous contributions” to Southeastern Health and health care in his community, according to Joann Anderson, president and CEO of Southeastern Health.
“He greatly impacted the availability of heart care in this community by leading the Southeastern Health Foundation’s 2004 Heart Center capital campaign to raise $1 million to bring Southeastern Health Heart and Vascular to Lumberton through a partnership with Duke Medicine,” Anderson said in a statement. “His service to this community and this organization has and will continue to touch the lives of people of all ages in this region as they and their families access much-needed health care services without having to leave their hometown.”
Barker’s kindness wasn’t confined to his county of Robeson. He endowed a professorship and contributed to the school’s athletic department. In the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina, an exceptional professor and researcher might receive funding through the John P. Barker Distinguished Professorship.
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Barker remarked in a UNC press statement regarding the professorship, “A huge part of what we are as alumni of UNC can directly be attributed to the years we spent at the university and the knowledge we attained there.”
According to UNC Educational Foundation director John Montgomery, Barker’s 41 years of service to the school’s athletic development organization, the Rams Club, “directly reflected” Barker’s caring personality. Barker was notorious for giving away his dozens of season tickets to North Carolina Tar Heels football and basketball events to his numerous friends and acquaintances.
Having first met Barker in 2001 at a football game, Montgomery claims that Barker has funded five sporting scholarships for women in the fields of baseball, women’s lacrosse, field hockey, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving.
“He knew that by supporting The Rams Club’s scholarship endowment and many of our facilities, our coaches would be in a position to recruit the best possible student-athletes to represent the university,” Montgomery said. ” … He simply had a great understanding of what the teams needed to compete on a national level for championships. He did all of this in a quiet, unassuming way and did not want or expect any attention or recognition for his generosity.”
According to Montgomery, Barker hoped that his fellow athletes would have the same “great experience” he did.
“John was a kind and generous man who cared deeply about his university and its athletic program. He was a special person to many in the Tar Heel family, and we will all miss his friendship and his unwavering support of Carolina athletics,” he said.
In December 2006, Barker received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Governor Weinstein, the highest civilian accolade in the state, in recognition of his selflessness. Barker and Weinstein were long-time friends, and Weinstein’s favorite memory of their friendship was a rafting trip down the Colorado River they took in the 1980s. Barker spent much of his adult life confined to a wheelchair, but according to Weinstein, it never stopped him from living life to the fullest.
“John helped a lot of people and a lot of people I don’t know about. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about John, and I’ve really never heard him downgrade another person,” Weinstein said. “He was the type of person who was very easygoing — what you saw was what you got.”
The Barker family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to either the First Baptist Church of Lumberton Endowment Fund (P.O. Box 938; Lumberton, NC 28359; or the Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina (400 Flemington Drive; Lake Waccamaw, NC 28450). Visitation will be conducted at Floyd Mortuary & Crematory Inc. on Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m., and the memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church of Lumberton on Monday at 2 p.m.
