Dr. John Bryan Barnett, Jr., Md

Dr. John Bryan Barnett, Jr., M.D. was born Sept. 17th, 1942 in Marlin, Falls County, TX to Dr. John Bryan Barnett, Sr., M.D. of Oletha, TX and Mrs. Hallie Mae Jones Barnett of Kosse, TX. The most apt descriptor of young John, as well as the adult to follow, was offered on his kindergarten report card, which asserted that he “plays moderately well with others...but runs with scissors.” He attended Marlin High School, where he was a 4-sport athlete, excelling in football and track & field, though no evidence of the latter exists and this writer, having never seen him run anywhere...ever... severely doubts. He was a National Merit Scholar, a “Life” rank Boy Scout and played trumpet in the high school band. No, as a matter of fact I cannot picture him playing trumpet either. It was during this time that he became an aficionado of playing cards and racing cars, not necessarily in that order, and he proved quite adept at both. He and his close friend Mr. Talmadge Tinsley turned their love of both into an enterprise lucrative enough to largely fund John's college and medical school expenses. That both reached their late 70's is a testament to their skill in these pursuits and then some. John attended the University of Texas at Austin where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, graduating with a double-major in history and psychology and having met both of his future wives, on occasion courting them concurrently, as only he could manage to pull off without getting shot. His future in medicine was preordained by a long line of physicians in his family, stretching back over 170 years, including a grandfather who was a surgeon with Gen. John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade during the Civil War, and culminating with his own father, a true “country doctor” who from his practice in Thornton, TX, “rode the circuit” in his wagon pulled by a team of mules, around the tri-county area, making house-calls on his necessarily rural patients. Dr. Barnett, Sr. was a legendary diagnostician in an era when laboratories and x-rays were virtually non-existent in that area. He was also so enamored of and dedicated to his mules which served him so faithfully that he was one of the driving forces behind erecting the monument to mules and their labor in the aptly named Muleshoe, TX. As a side note, “Doctor” as he was called, was also legendary for foiling a robbery of the Thornton State Bank across from his office there by winging the perpetrator as he fled and then chasing him down the highway, shifting the gears on his Packard with one hand and firing his lever-action 30-30 Winchester with the other, wounding the offender again and causing him to careen into a bar ditch. “Doctor” then pulled over, disarmed the man and tended to his wounds in the field before ferrying him to the nearest hospital. 20 or so years later, a gaunt man entered Doctor's office and proclaimed he was in fact the same robber which Doctor had wounded, pursued and apprehended all those years before. Fresh from the state penitentiary, he thanked Doctor for saving his life and ending his criminal career, as he, like so many even today, had found Jesus behind bars and emerged a new man, ready to start his life anew. Unfortunately, he was a bit short of “scratch” and asked Doctor if he could spare a few bucks to help him get on his feet, promising to pay him back as soon as he found gainful employment. Doctor obliged, handing the fellow the not insignificant sum at the time of twenty dollars, shook his hand, sent him on his way and never heard from him again. John also had a brother 14 years his senior named David whom also became a physician and whom young John idolized in every way. Dr. David Barnett was an incredibly talented general and colo-rectal surgeon, serving as Chief of Surgery at Gaston Episcopal Hospital (now the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation) for the bulk of the 1980s. He was immensely respected by his peers, genuinely revered by his residents and was routinely called in on the most difficult cases due to his unrivaled surgical skill. Upon graduation from UT, the junior John Barnett advanced to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where he was a member of the Phi Chi medical fraternity, following which he interned in surgery at St. John's Hospital in Tulsa, OK and then subsequently became Director of Emergency Services at Methodist Hospital in Peoria, IL Upon leaving the garden spot that was and remains Peoria, Dr. Barnett did a residency in general surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and at John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth, under the direction of renowned surgeon, Dr. Robert Sparkman. He then trained in plastic surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital of Dallas under pioneering craniofacial surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Salyer. In the midst of all of this, Dr. Barnett served in the United States Air Force Reserve as a flight surgeon in Strategic Air Command, eventually attaining the rank of Major. During this period Dr. Barnett and his friend and colleague Dr. Leonard Riggs used the experience they had garnered in emergency medicine during their internships and residencies to establish emergency medical services at upwards of nine hospitals in Dallas, North Texas and East Texas and developed a novel scheduling system to more efficiently utilize the talents of qualified emergency physicians, allowing for more timely and broader coverage of increasingly larger service areas in the growing Metroplex with capable surgical professionals. This system proved lucrative for all parties, from doctors, to hospitals, and patients as well, so much so that a number of regional hospitals that had not previously offered emergency services elected to establish departments, thus expanding the availability of emergency services to the community. This endeavor ultimately led both of them to become founding members of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Barnett also took great pleasure and pride in being one of the “team doctors” for several large concerts, including The Rolling Stones and several of Willie Nelson's “4th of July Picnics”, though the volume of patients in both cases prevented him from seeing much of the actual shows...which is a polite way of saying that you wouldn't believe how many people get stabbed or suffer heat strokes at events such as these. Dr. Barnett was a member of the American Medical Association, the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Surgical Society, the Dallas County Medical Society, the Society of Baylor Surgeons and the Dallas Society of Plastic Surgeons. Upon completion of his surgical training, Dr. Barnett went into private practice in plastic surgery for the remainder of his medical career, specializing in cosmetic surgery and possessing a particular gift in the area of breast augmentation and reconstruction. His work may be seen on models, centerfolds, celebrities, housewives and women of every profession and segment of society. Dr. Barnett genuinely loved what he did, which allowed him to be part surgeon, part artist and part psychiatrist to his patients, whose newfound self-esteem brought him unparalleled joy. Unlike many other physicians, Dr. Barnett's dedication to and affinity for his patients led him to commonly give them his home or cell phone number and encouraged them to call with any issues, anytime, day or night. However, he also thoroughly enjoyed and excelled as a diagnostician, a trait he liked to say he inherited from his father, and as any one of his friends may attest, he was almost always spot-on in his assessment of even the most esoteric maladies, much to the surprise of other physicians who incorrectly regarded him as a mere “beautologist”. He also served as an FDA investigator on a number of projects involving advanced medical devices and techniques. Beyond loving his work, he also enjoyed hunting, gun collecting, gambling (much to the chagrin of his spouses), entrepreneurial ventures, old whiskey, fast cars (see aforementioned “chagrin”), reading any and every history book he could get his hands on, telling stories, some of them even true, and a truly eclectic taste in music that ranged from ZZ Top, Chuck Berry, and Elvis to Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, to the works of Mozart and Wagner. It should also be noted that as he advanced in age, he bore a resemblance to Johnny Cash that was beginning to become as uncanny as his brother's resemblance to comedian Steve Martin. To wit, I once journeyed to Groesbeck, TX to meet Dad and Uncle David at the funeral of a distant but beloved relative, Cecil Barnett. As I was coming from Austin and had never been to the town before, I was running a touch late, or as we call it in the family “Barnett Standard Time”. I arrived at the church after everyone was seated, and it being a full house, I had to stand in the back until the service concluded. As everyone rose and greeted one another and generally milled about, I could not for the life of me find Dad or Uncle David and frankly, I didn't personally know another soul there. After a few minutes of frustrated neck-craning, I finally approached the pastor, introduced myself and said, “Let me ask you an exceedingly odd question. Have you seen Johnny Cash and Steve Martin here?”. The pastor, without missing a beat replied, “And I'm going to give you an exceedingly odd answer...they are in the back with the rest of the family.” And so they were, and while the pastor and I had a good chuckle about the whole thing, Dad and David were not nearly as amused as we were. But I digress... In 1968, John married his first wife, the remarkable and wonderful Andrea Anderson and she endured the difficult times all spouses of doctors must during medical school and post-graduate training, including having to live in both Tulsa AND Peoria, for which she should have received some sort of medal. Through her, John had his only child, a son they quizzically named Bryan Hunter Barnett even though they never intended for one minute to call him “Bryan” and there were literal generations of men with the middle name “Bryan” on BOTH sides of their families and it has only served to make him look like a moron at doctor's appointments as he sits in the waiting room reading a magazine while some poor nurse hollers “BRYAN!!” for what seems like forever before it finally registers to him that THAT is in fact his name and then the doctor wants to run a BATTERY of tests because this idiot doesn't even know who he is, so...yeah...good times. It could have been worse, though. At one point they were flirting with the name Barabbas. Yeah. Look him up. Not the most sympathetic character in the Bible, I'll tell ya' that much. Needless to say, Hunter was the most adorable child that ever existed and grew into a man of such staggering talent, immaculate character and devastating good looks that...what? Too much? Fine. I'll dial it back a little. He grew to be a decent guy who is way too wordy for his own good. Better? Geez, everybody's a critic... As you might recall from Chapter One of this saga (yes, there will be a quiz at the end), John had met both of his future brides in college, and it was a few years after the dissolution of his first union that John was fortuitously re-acquainted with one Maria Alexander. Also recently divorced, Maria and John picked up as though no time had passed and were soon married, her two lovely daughters Vincelee and Nicole becoming his step-children. They would both grow into remarkable women and after growing up around John, would both inexplicably marry physicians, with Vincelee wedding Dr. Alex Singer and Nicole marrying Dr. Erick Hauk, one of the preeminent neurosurgeons in the world today. Beyond producing a passel of step-grandchildren for John to alternately dote on and terrorize, Nicole also managed to carry on the family tradition by becoming a doctor in her own right. The depth of John and Maria's love for one another was palpable, and while some might on occasion have characterized it as somewhat volatile, they preferred the term “energetically passionate”. She was predominantly Sicilian and he was...well...John Barnett, so you can do the math. They were perfectly suited for each other and she remains the only human I have ever known who possessed the ability to soothe his temper by merely cooing her pet name for him, “John Bear”. Seriously, it was like watching that Cesar Milan guy calm down a rambunctious dog. She was the “John Whisperer” and he loved her more than he ever thought he was capable of loving another person, which he did for the better part of the ensuing 24 years. And so her tragic and untimely death from an un-diagnosed heart defect in 2005 conferred upon him the greatest sorrow imaginable and by his own frequent admission, was quite nearly the death of him. He was, quite simply, shattered. A few months after her passing I was in the car with him, and if you have ever been a passenger in a car driven by John Barnett, you know it is by definition a white-knuckle experience. We were driving and listening to music and every song in the cd player was a maudlin tune about heartache and loss. “Drivin' and Cryin'” music, they call it, and he was doing just that. Now, valuing my own life a great deal, I explained to him that his actively weeping, combined with his driving style, was in no way conducive to either of our continued existences and insisted he pull over at the Best Buy up ahead. I left him in the car, ran inside and grabbed the first cd I could find that I thought would do the trick. The angriest, loudest, most in-your-face, curse-laden scream-fest of an album I could lay my hands on, by a band called Rage Against The Machine. I would encourage anyone dealing with loss or sorrow to immediately purchase this and put it on “repeat” until you can recite every word. I popped it in the car stereo and after a few minutes of the bass thumping and the guitars screeching and the drums crashing and the lead singer shouting strings of obscenities, he turned to me with a grin and said, “Ya' know, this is a real toe-tapper.” Over the next few years he absolutely wore that cd out. And so he persevered. One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, he trudged through his immeasurable grief for nearly a decade, until when he least expected it, he ran into an old friend named Marilyn and despite his absolute certainty that he would never love again, found that he was sorely mistaken and had stumbled headlong into the 3rd love of his life. Though often separated by great distances, he and Marilyn carried on a relationship that provided him comfort and laughter and real, meaningful love for the rest of his days. I honestly believe that without her in his life these past several years, I would have been writing this much, much sooner. For that I am indeed grateful. As anyone bothering to read this will attest, John Barnett was a good friend, a “go-to guy” in a crisis, “colorful” in style and definitely in language, a marvelous story-teller, most definitely a snappy dresser, as the 3-piece baby blue Yves St. Laurent crushed velvet suit I stole from him will attest, a lover of women and food (often too much on both accounts), ridiculously opinionated and disarmingly kind. He most certainly had his faults. A veritable panoply of them, as all who knew him will agree, and yet in the end, no matter the transgression, one found it nearly impossible not to forgive him. The force of his character, his sheer, unbridled charisma was such that even if you loathed him, you still enjoyed being around him. That is a rare talent to be sure and he had it in spades. Dr. John, JB, John B., “John Bear” was preceded in death by his parents, Dr & Mrs. John B. Barnett, Sr., his brother Dr. William David Barnett and his wife Betty, and his beloved wife, Maria Alexander Barnett. He is survived by myself, his only begotten son, his step-daughters Vincelee Stevens Singer and Nicole Stevens Hauk and their children, his ex-wife and my sainted mother, Andrea Barnett, his niece Beth Barnett Callahan and her husband Jim, his beloved sister-in-law Elizabeth Alexander Yancey, her husband (and his great friend) David, and their children Gus and Alexandra, his other adored sister-in-law, Suzanne Alexander and her children Hugh, Colin and Tiernan Alexander, his “surrogate daughter” Bridgette Smiley, without whom I in no way could have cared for him these last few years and whom is in every way possible my sister, a veritable legion of friends and a handful of bona fide enemies who can breathe easier knowing he is no longer coming for them. While I know I will be necessarily omitting people that were incredibly important to him and much loved, I would like to acknowledge a few friends whom I know personally and have been especially supportive during this time and/or instrumental in his getting as far down the road as he did and thus giving me more time with him, not the least of which include Wanda and Bob Ward, Talmadge and Bonnie Tinsley, Judge Joe D. Clayton, Jesse and Milo Kirk, Gary Bellinger, Dr. Steve and Linda Frost, Dr. Don Johnson, Don and Joan Myers, Dr. John O'Brien, King Copeland, Brady Wyatt III, Dr. Billy Seybold, the recently late Jack Smith and his wife, Vicki, the late John Smith and his wife, Kathy, Dan Guthrie, Dan Baucom, Reggie George, Paul Stewart, Ms. Jenna Thorne and Mrs. Edith Poku, whom I have been unable to reach but sincerely hope reads this. In light of the ongoing plague, I have elected to postpone any memorial service until vaccination rates are significantly higher. While our governor may believe the pandemic is over and everything is fine, I am unwilling to risk the safety of anyone who would be so gracious as to attend any ceremony honoring my father, as I now he would be similarly reticent. But more importantly, we all know the one thing that would upset John Barnett more than anything would be to have a funeral no one could come to. Thus, I am going to wait until perhaps late May or sometime in June to organize a genuine celebration of his life that may be attended by as many of you as are then willing and able, whereupon we will eat, drink and share many of the countless stories you all have about him and hopefully record them for posterity. I assure you all, I will keep you apprised and informed of said gathering when arrangements have been put in place. If you have read this far then you are one of the many who loved and adored my father and I thank you for taking the time and indulging my unfettered wordiness. It should be noted that much of the above comes directly from John's hand in writings he left behind detailing his wishes and highlighting that of which he was most proud and those he truly cherished. He had fervently hoped to have the obituary he authored for himself printed in the Dallas Morning News, but seeing as it was 12 legal pad pages long and he neglected to leave behind the $64 million dollars it would cost to print it, I have elected to do so here with my own flourishes added. I hope it meets your and most importantly his approval. I will close by quoting the man himself from the last page of his own written farewell by saying he saw himself as a “husband, father, brother, loyal friend, companion, and mentor” and he sincerely hopes you agree. He also wished to thank all of his “family and friends who were so kind, supportive and gracious enough to put up with his eccentricities, temperament, vicissitudes, and peccadilloes.” Goodbye, Dad. You will be sorely missed by a great many, but none more than me. -Hunter Barnett March 14th, 2021