Gary T. Barnhart

Barnhart, Gary T., born August 30, 1937. Passed Tuesday, June 10, 2014 after fighting cancer for 10 years. He is preceded in death by his parents, Clifford and Dolly Barnhart, along with Lilly Aaron and many other aunts and uncles. He graduated from Southwestern College and attended the Graduate program at Denver University. He joined the Air Force and was assigned to Hallomon Air Force Base and the Whitesands Missile Base at the time of the Vietnam War. While enlisted in the Air Force, Gary was responsible for helping to train HAM - the first chimp in space - and participated in gravitational force studies during the space race. After the Air Force, Gary was a liaison for the US Government in Bavaria for the Max Planck Institute. He worked as a recruiter with Cessna and then joined the Coleman Company as a regional sales manager in North Carolina and California. He returned home to the corporate offices here in Wichita. Gary was the president of the family Wichita Jazz Festival. He became a sculptor at the Center of the Arts under Babs Mellor, along with being a Docent at the Wichita Art Museum. He will be missed by his loving family and many friends. He is survived by his wife, Pamela Brown Barnhart; two daughters, Sabine Barnhart and Brett Adkins; grandson, Max Emil Martinez; loved granddog, Hope. Visitation with Garys family will be from 4:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M., Friday, June 13, 2014, at University Congregational Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to University Congregational Church, 9209 E. 29th St. N., Wichita, KS 67226; Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, KS 67202. Downing Lahey East Mortuary.