August 22, 2005

Hoping you live forever

From relatives, friends get behind shovels in graveside tribute to John Barrett
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Early on a radiant summer day in an old cemetery on a green knoll in rural Le Sueur County, 15 friends and relatives paid John Barnett the ultimate in final respects.

They took up shovels and dug his grave.
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The man and life that inspired such devotion were not extraordinary, unless you consider a beloved man and a simple and by all accounts happy life to be extraordinary.

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The hand-digging was also a tribute to Barnett's own years of work as a member of the St. Michael's cemetery board. "He was always happy to help dig graves," Jim Gunville said. "He used to say they made a party out of it, sometimes with a bottle at hand, and 'the lower we dug, the higher we got.' "

Saturday's gathering was more sober, but by no means somber. "We were so happy to do this," Jim Gunville said, to honor Barnett's love of life.

He had often offered this toast, Gunville said: "Here's hoping you live forever and I never die."

Posted by Jill Fallon at August 22, 2005 11:56 AM | Permalink