Kenneth Barnes

Kenneth M. Barnes, 87, a lifelong resident of Lancaster, Ohio, died Saturday, May 20, 2017 under the care of Pickering House and surrounded by his wife and children.

The son of John Warren Barnes and Rosannah Corfee (Medley) Barnes, he was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on March 6th, 1930. He was the youngest of six children: John W. "Jack", Robert "Bob", Leroy "Lee", Paul and Ruth. Ken is survived by his wife Margot (Dodson), his children Tracey (husband Paolo Abbruzzetti) and Timothy (wife Conor Irons), two grandchildren Declan and Callan, his sister Ruth Bibler and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Like his brothers before him, he enlisted in military services, serving first on active duty in infantry of the United States Army during the Korean War and thereafter in active and inactive duty in the United States Army Reserves. He was honorably discharged at the rank of captain in 1962.

Ken graduated from Lancaster High School in 1948 (where he was a standout basketball player and later served on the board of the Lancaster High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame), completed a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in 1952 at Ohio University and a Juris Doctor degree from The Ohio State University in 1959, where he was president of his law school class. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Acacia fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.

After law school he joined in the law practice of Donald C. Miller of Miller & Miller to form what was ultimately, with partner T. Michael Christian, Miller, Barnes & Christian attorneys at law. Ken actively practiced law until he retired in 2015, when, at the age 85 he was one of the oldest practicing attorneys in Lancaster. He was an active member and past president of the Fairfield County Bar Association, from which he received the George D. Martin professionalism award in 2007.

In 1962, Ken married Margot Dodson, a native of Huddersfield, England. Margot is an active local artist and volunteer for numerous civic organizations. Their daughter Tracey is a zookeeper at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and their son Tim is a federal judge in Chicago.

Ken was a member of the First United Methodist Church where he served on the Board of Trustees and the Finance Committee. He was a past president of the Lancaster Rotary Club, the Lancaster Booster Club, the United Way of Fairfield County and the Order of Symposiarchs. He received the Paul Harris Fellow award from Rotary in 2005. He was a committed Master Mason, including a member of more than fifty years of Free and Accepted Masons (Lancaster Lodge No. 57 and Camp Knox Lodge No. 919), member of Lancaster Chapter No. 11 Royal Arch Masons, Lancaster Council No. 88, Royal and Select Masters and Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar. He was made a Freemason York Right in 1997.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Cheryl Foulk officiating. Friends and family may also call at the Frank E. Smith Funeral Home in Lancaster on Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be a Masonic service beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Please visit http://www.funeralhome.com/to share memories and extend condolences to his family.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be directed to Lancaster Campground Davis Auditorium restoration fund, http://lancastercampground.com/auditorium.html, the Free and Accepted Masons (Lancaster Lodge No. 57), http://www.lancasterohiomasons.com/, or to the Memorial Grandstand Building Fund at any Fairfield Federal Savings and Loan location or checks made out to the Fairfield County Agricultural Society (with Memorial Grandstand Building Fund in the memo).

Memorial Service

Calling Hours