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Tony Barnhill - Discussion Thread

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Jeff, Thanks for posting updates on our extended family. Tony and Jerri stopped by our house in Monroe NC several years ago. That was our first face to face meeting. There was definately a love for MGs that ran deep in his life. Our next meeting was on a trip that Lynda and I were on. We were heading back from Tulsa in our Miata and thought a detour to Gurley Al. to see the Barnhills would be fun. Tony took the time to show us around and we traded stories and information. Jerri came out of the house and was just as nice as could be! Thats when I felt a real connection with The Autoist. I probably registered on the BCF around that time. We saw Tony and Jerri at the Chatanooga show about a year and a half ago. You just do not find a man like Tony every day. They are far and few inbetween. Tony and his family has been on my mind alot since the accident. If we can do anything to assist the family just PM. Bob and Lynda White
 
just read this sad news, tony was a great guy, we will all miss him, i just picture him with his grandson and have to cry, i cant believe this. my heart goes out to his family.
 
Wow! Great guy, and more my loss for not knowing him better.
 
I'm still struggling with all of this.

I regret that I never met Tony in person.
It would have been fun to sit down with him over a few beers, bragging about our grandchildren and telling lies about our cars.
But I am glad I had a chance to get to know him via the internet.
Over the past few years, I have had a number of back-and-forth chit-chats with Tony and I am richer for that experience.

Steve called him "larger than life".
And I think a few of us have referred to him as a "character".
He also obviously "had" character.

Except for our mutual interest in these little British cars, I'm sure he and I were very different from each other.
And yet, even when he expressed points of view that were different from mine, he never seemed shrill or mean-spirited.
Clearly, an honest, decent (and sometimes, outspoken) man who loved his family, his friends and his country.

Probably all of us have experienced personal loss before.
I know I have. It's a part of the human experience.
So where do we go now? What do we do without Tony?

I'm sure we could memorialize him somehow.
With signs or whatever.
That would be OK.

But what I really liked is when Skip said we should just "carry on".
I think that's right.

Tony seemed to be a very practical and down-to-earth.
If he were part of this conversation right now, I think he would encourage us to carry on with all this car talk and all the chatter that he obviously enjoyed.

In a way, returning to normalcy might be the best way to honor Tony.
I know it's hard. I'm still grieving and I know a lot of people are very hurt by this loss.

But my guess is that Tony would encourage us to carry on and enjoy our shared interest in these cars.
And the friendships that they have fostered.

To the best of my ability, that's what I'm going to do.

Thanks for all the fun and friendship you've brought to so many of us, Tony. Godspeed.

<span style="font-style: italic"> Nial McCabe
Andover, New Jersey</span>
 
Thank you Jeff for the update and Jay for the video.
 
It's this durn'd innernet thingie wot's to blame. Makes it MUCH too easy to find and enlarge one's "circle of friends".

I think I may hate it. :jester:
 
Oh my God. I had planned to meet up with him next time I came through his area and look at his cars. Met him out at the lake of the Ozarks meet up. Great guy. He was a large part of the Spridget board. Wow,I have been buzy and not checked the board for a while. In a way, I wish I hadn't.
 
I think that Nial's eulogy is not only one of the best that I have read, but is also a very fitting tribute to a man that has touched so many lives in his own inimitable way.

For my part I shall keep the "missing man" formation as my avatar for some time to come. It's the wrong branch of the service for Tony but I can't think of anything more fitting. Gentlemen, (and Ladies), we have lost one of our own. Some of us, more so than others.
 
Jeff:

Thank you very much for the update. As others have said Tony is a true loss to us all.

If there is anything that we can do to help Jerri and the Family please let us know.

Our deepest condolences.

Patrick
 
I don't know if anybody has the picture, but I always think of that picture of Tony inside the engine compartment of the 63 Midget he brought to the meetup in June 2008. I was anxious to see that finished car back in December when I passed within a couple miles of his house but he had an appointment at the VA and could not miss it. I told him next time I get down that way on business we would meet then. What a shock.
 
DrEntropy said:
It's this durn'd innernet thingie wot's to blame. Makes it MUCH too easy to find and enlarge one's "circle of friends".

I think I may hate it. :jester:
Click to expand...

It really is one of those "love/hate" things doc but I know I am better for being a part of it.
 
Just checked in and saw the post - speechless...

God bless Tony and Jerri and all of his family.

Larry and Pamela Groft
 
I've not stopped in for a few days and have only just heard this news. I too regret having never met Tony in person (or even on the phone) but knew him as a person who was always helpful with advice, pleasant words, or just a good joke.

'Bye, Tony.

-Wm.
 
How does one get so choked up over a person I've never met? Tony and I have swapped a few parts over the years and I've read has posts here and at that other board... I've always looked to him as the MG authority.

He will be truly missed.

My best to his family.
 
Shoot, understatment. He is missed already. No chating via phone this week about the Ssnake, Vet or our health problems.
 
jlaird said:
Shoot, understatment. He is missed already. No chating via phone this week about the Ssnake, Vet or our health problems.
Click to expand...
I know you two were close, I remember y'all met up for the drive up to LOTO. I got one of his green caps when I bought the radiator from him and was just wearing it yesterday. It will have a more special meaning to me now. I wish I had known him better. I can't imagine what his family is going through. The fact is that none of us knows when that ride in our spridget will be our last.
 
Met him for the first time last year at the New Orleans British Car Show. Never knew you could put that much wax on a Jag sedan in my life. We hit it off right away. But I waxed my car in a third of the time. Tony was big on details. He offered up his cleaning products and expertise to anyone around that wanted it. You ask him the time and he would tell you how to make a watch.
 
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