From the shattered hearts of my family, I am so sorry to let all of you know of the loss of my brother, Tommy Barnes. This was very sudden and completely unexpected. To the best of our knowledge it had nothing to do with COVID-19, and the questions that just popped into your head are the same ones we have been asking ourselves since this nightmare began yesterday. Why? How?
Our family united in 1986 when my dad/George married Sharon who brought Sherri, Tommy, and Rachel along with her. We were always “brothers” and “sisters.” We didn’t bother much with adding “step” in front of those words. From the second I met Tommy, I don’t think he ever stopped talking. When he entered a room, he took up ALL of the space in it. One of his greatest joys was to keep everyone around him laughing. He loved and laughed with every ounce of his being. Light didn’t shine on Tommy, it shone *from* him and onto every person who was blessed by his presence. He never missed an opportunity to say “I love you” and had the most tender, loving heart – the kind that ached and made him cry when leaving his Alabama family after Christmas each year.
Tommy's greatest accomplishment was the family he made for himself with his wife, Carrie, and their precious 12-year-old daughter, Bentley. I am eternally grateful that he brought them into our lives. There are no adequate words to describe his love for them both. He was so proud to be Carrie’s husband and Bentley’s dad.
All we want to do is cry, but Tommy would want us to laugh. He’d rather we talk about the stupid bird he had when we were kids that he named Fecious (soooo Tommy ��) or his pet snake that got loose in his first car and met it’s untimely demise in the air-conditioning vents – a fate we were reminded of every STINKING time it was Tommy’s turn to drive somewhere. Or the time in high school when he, Casey, and others who shall remain nameless “went camping” resulting in my dad’s most creative punishment the next day – push-mowing all 6 acres of our yard in blazing Alabama heat with queasy stomachs and splitting headaches.
We are dumbfounded by this loss, and we need your loving prayers – none of us more so than Sharon, Carrie, and Bentley. We love you all, and we are thankful for all of the wonderful friends and family in our lives who bring a little light to this our darkest day.
-courtesy of Tommy’s sister Amy Bentley