This past weekend, along with my wife Deborah, I travelled to Roxboro, North Carolina to say a final goodbye to Barnie K. Day who undoubtedly had a profound influence and lasting impact upon my life. Barnie bravely battled Parkinson’s Disease for over 20 years; his wife Debbie had most kindly included me in a text message chain in recent weeks reporting that his health had significantly deteriorated and therefore I heartbreakingly reasoned the end was likely approaching. However, as is the case with anyone you love, the finality of death is nonetheless jarring. I hold Debbie and Barnie’s family in my prayers for comfort, strength and peace in time.
Barnie was my mentor and friend. In 1985, while serving as Patrick County Administrator, Barnie hired me for the position of Special Projects Director, which launched my career in local government and public service. The decision to hire me was a risky one for him because he later shared that the Board of Supervisors at the time would have preferred hiring a local candidate. However, Barnie saw something in me I probably did not see in myself at the time, and I am forever indebted to him for the confidence he placed in me; I remain grateful for all I learned from him.
Barnie had a fundamental common-sense approach to success in local government he shared with me, and it was a lesson I carried with me for the remainder of my career. He once told me the first thing any elected board member or administrator needs to learn is “how to count to three” as in the number of votes required to pass a motion on a five-member board. At the end of the day an elected official’s success, or lack thereof, is measured by supporting policies adopted for the advancement of the community or opposing policies harmful to same. Success is never reached by the unwillingness to compromise and the continued stoking of petty disputes. I remain astounded to this day how many elected officials I read about across our region have not learned to count to three.
Another bit of sage advice Barnie instilled in me early on, and I wisely adopted, was maintaining a good relationship with the news media. Barnie had a newspaper background and highly valued their importance in holding government accountable in a free society. He loved the quote often attributed to Mark Twain: “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.”
Barnie often included me in meetings unrelated to any matter I was directly involved in simply for my edification. We took many rides out in the county to view projects or see citizen concerns on the ground. There were also the road trips to Richmond where I learned my way around the Capital and the General Assembly Office Building. He included me in all these things to expand my knowledge and broaden my horizons. I cherish to this day the time spent together, the conversations, the amazing stories and all the laughter. He had a great belly laugh and a devilish grin I will never forget.
My fondest hope for any young person beginning a career is they are blessed by a mentor willing to invest time and effort in their future success. For me Barnie was that person. When he later decided to leave county government to accept a new career challenge in business, he advocated for me to replace him as County Administrator. I was further blessed, Barnie later served two very effective terms on the Board of Supervisors where he was a strong leader and a consummate strategic thinker; his time on the Board positioned him well for his later tenure as a highly successful member of the Virginia House of Delegates with outsized influence from nearly the very beginning of his time in Richmond. I believe he would have enjoyed even greater success on the state level had his health not betrayed him.
Barnie was truly an unforgettable character in the best sense of the description. A lot of folks are labeled original, but Barnie unquestionably was. He was a free thinker unbound by philosophy or convention. He possessed a keen intellect fueled by natural curiosity and the voracious consumption of the written word. He had an agile mind, a rapier edge wit, a disarming charm and the gift of gab to talk effortlessly with anyone. He was a master communicator and storyteller; he could make observations on the most mundane events and circumstances hysterically funny. And oh, my goodness he was street smart.
Barnie enjoyed a successful tenure as County Administrator and for that matter in all the other roles he filled in the subsequent years of his employment and public service career. Barnie had a true passion for making his community a better and more just place. He had laser focus and zealous determination to get things done no matter how many feathers were ruffled in the process. He had a flamboyant leadership style and could be outright audacious at times.
One of the first major projects I was assigned after beginning work for Patrick County was administering grant funding and serving as a liaison to the US Army Corp of Engineers for the flood control project in downtown Stuart. The County was responsible for obtaining the property rights-of-way necessary to build the project. All those acquisitions were not without disagreement and Barnie was a fierce negotiator. An attorney representing a property owner lodged a complaint with the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors decrying Barnie’s tactics. In response Barnie penned a personal letter to the attorney which read “Please know that I am prostrate with remorse for any insult or injury–real and imagined–I have inflicted upon you. The anguish of your letter of August 19 is self-evident. You have suffered enough. When I look back over the way I have behaved in this matter…why, I’mma good’n mind to rend my clothes and cover myself in ashes.” I find no better means to pay tribute to Barnie than to employ his own remarkable words.
My own limited writing ability, thoughts and the space provided herein are woefully inadequate to do justice to all Barnie accomplished let alone all he meant to so many folks in his varied career roles; he was truly a friend to Patrick County and specifically to the Meadows of Dan-Vesta communities. I have attempted only to share a few personal memories of what Barnie meant to me and his influence upon my life; I will miss him forever and the light cast by those living in this mortal world will burn dimmer without him. “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2
David Hoback, a former Patrick County administrator and executive director of the West Piedmont Planning District Commission, currently serves on the Stuart Town Council.
