Uncle "Pug"

I'm headed home this weekend to spend some time with family that will be coming in from out of town and to say goodbye to my Uncle Pug who we were very close with. He is my grandmother's brother on my Dad's side. I'll never forget when he handed Matt and I a $100 bill on our wedding night and told us he wanted to pay for the first night of our honeymoon. I have to say that the Barnhart genes are pretty good considering he was working up until about 3 years ago when he told us that they pissed him off one too many times. I can't remember what the issue was about. The man never took a day off! He will definitely be missed. I now have no surviving grandparents and Uncle Pug was the last close relative of his generation that I had any relationship with so it's a sad revelation.


Lorenzo M. "Pug" "Barnie" Barnhart, 89, of West Terre Haute passed away at 5:55 p.m. Friday April 17, 2009, in Davis Gardens Health Center in Terre Haute. He was born July 27, 1919, in Vigo County to Walter Barnhart and Stella King Barnhart. He had owned and operated a trucking company for many years hauling coal mine equipment and machinery for coal mines in the area. He and his wife Muriel moved to Florida, where they lived for 25 years. He continued as an owner/operator of a tri-axle truck in Florida for many years. After retiring as a driver, he became a superintendent for a crush plant in Florida and later as a superintendent of a supply warehouse in Miami. He and Muriel then moved back to West Terre Haute and he continued to work for another 20 years as a security guard for Sony in Terre Haute. He was preceded in death by his wife, Muriel Fay Bailey Barnhart on March 28, 2002. His surviving family includes a son, Phillip Barnhart; a brother, Charles "Coen" Barnhart; three grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews spanning from Tennessee, Florida, California, Nevada, Illinois, and Indiana. He was a 60-year member of the West Terre Haute Masonic Lodge No. 687 F. and A.M. He was a hard-working man. He loved old-school country music and he liked a good laugh. He was loved and respected by his family and friends and will be missed. According to his wishes, there will be a visitation only from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday in Fitzpatrick Funeral Home with a Masonic Memorial Service at 7 p.m. Cremation will be scheduled and his ashes will be buried in Roselawn Memorial Park at a later date.

P.S. I really can't remember why we called him "Pug." It never seemed odd because that's just what I knew him as.