Jeanealities

IN PASSING

RECENTLY NOTICES of the deaths of two former Barnesville residents were given to me, and I feel many others will be interested in them also. First was the death of former superintendent of Barnesville Schools in the mid 1960s, James A. Wright who died in Charlotte, NC June 2, 2011. He and his wife had moved to Charlotte after living in Brevard, NC for 26 years.

BORN IN Salem, Ohio, Oct. 23, 1927, he served in the U.S. Army 1946-47. He was graduated from Mt. Union, received two additional degrees from Kent State and did graduate work at several other universities. As an educator by profession for 30 years in Ohio, he served eight years as teacher and principal and 22 as superintendent.

DURING JIM Wright’s years as superintendent here, the bond issue for the new high school was passed after efforts for almost two decades had failed.

ACTIVE IN church work he taught Sunday school and served as trustee and elder in the Presbyterian Church in Barnesville and as deacon in the Brevard/Davidson River Presbyterian Church in Brevard.

HE IS survived by his wife of 62 years, Patricia Lindmark Wright, sons, Kevin and Keery Wright, and daughters, Kristin Wright Sinclair and Kyle Wright Rogerson.

BARNESVILLE NATIVE, Carol Jean Buchanan Niehause died on July 4, 2011 after a long illness. She was born in Barnesville, the only child of Robert and Lucille Buchanan, owners publishers of the Barnesville Whetstone weekly newspaper. The Whetstone was started in 1894 by her grandfather, William Emmet Buchanan whose wife was Rita Kemp, daughter of pioneer physician, Dr. George Kemp. W.E. Buchanan was the son of George Henry and Mary Ann Kennon Buchanan whose roots go way back to the early 1800s. The Old Ireland Cemetery which was cleaned up in 2010 after years of neglect revealed names of many of Carol Buchanan Niehause’s Buchanan and Kennon ancestors. In fact it was often referred to as the Buchanan Cemetery. Those two families later came to Barnesville and were among the founders of the Barnesville First Presbyterian Church. Carol Jean was the last of those Buchanans to attend that church and supposedly are the last of that family in Barnesville.

BOB BUCHANAN, only son of W.E. Buchanan, and his wife, Lucille, published the Whetstone until their retirement in July 1974. Carol Jean, their only child, married Richard Niehause and moved to Michigan. They had no children. So with Carol Jean’s death, that branch of the pioneer Buchanan family is gone.

jeanealities is compiled by Jean Palmer Davies, lifetime Barnesville Enterprise associate. She may be reached at jeandavies@comcast.net.