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Ed Barnett was my friend here on earth, now in Heaven

Our friendship started in a pool hall some 46 years ago.
Ed Barnet and I came from completely different neighborhoods, so for first nine years, our paths crossed only in bars and smoky old pool rooms.
Our common ground was a green felt table.

I often joke with people that Ed was the reason I got into the newspaper business.
I was hanging around the pool hall downtown, and every day Ed and Marvin Penrod would come in around lunch time and stay all afternoon.
My daddy never had a job where he could shoot pool all day.
So I asked the guy who ran the pool hall where Ed and Marvin worked.
He said "the newspaper."
Right then and there, I decided I wanted to work at the newspaper. Hell of a job.
I didn't know at the time that Ed's granddad owned the paper.

We worked together here at the paper for nine years.
He was the grandson of the publisher.
I was a minimum wage sports writer.

The pool shooting days were gone.
Our common ground became a love for sports.

I remember the night we went to Fort Worth together for the State Golden Gloves.
Ed hadn't told anybody he was going, so when we got there, he called back to the newspaper office to tell them he was "with Nicky" in Fort Worth.
(People who knew me before 1972 call me Nicky)
Back then we also had a female switchboard operator named Nickie.
The gossip around the office was that Ed had gone to Fort Worth with Nickie.

Ed retired from the paper in 1981.
He fought a lot of demons for many years before finally finding the Lord.
Me, too.
So, strangely, our common ground was Christianity.
Ed's witness led a lot of the "good old boys" to Christ.

We both still loved to gamble.
That brought us together in the poker room across the river.
The pool hall competitiveness was still there.
Ed once told some people that he would rather knock me out of a poker tournament than win it.

We were also competitive in politics.
He was right.
I was left.
That came up often at the poker table.
But it never threatened our friendship.

My friend left this earth on Wednesday.
I honor him today with these words from a Michael W. Smith song.

"Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter of your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

And with the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show

We'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends."

Goodbye, my friend.
I'll see you in Heaven.

Posted by Nick Gholson at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)