Crain calls it a career By Tom Kelly Come next spring--April 2010, to be exact--they will be married 45 years. But Barry and Paulette Crain have been companions for quite a bit longer than that--since fourth grade, actually, in the Washington Parish city of Franklinton, where they both grew up. In discussing his recent retirement as Area Forestry Agent with the LSU AgCenter at Alexandria, Barry said they only ever had one major disagreement since they noticed each other in grammar school. That was when she cut her ponytail, somewhere around eighth grade. But, eventually things worked out when she let it grow again. Today she wears a fashionable trim, and while not working at her job with ACCC, an auto insurance company on Coliseum Boulevard in Alexandria, Paulette and Barry enjoy life with their five-year-old companion Boston terrier, Gracie, in their spacious home on a tree-covered lot on Mill Pond Road, facing Hickory Grove Road in Deville, just off Louisiana Highway 28 east of Alexandria-Pineville. They have two children, a son and a daughter, and a third grandchild born just last month. Son Damon and his wife Tonya, live in Bunkie, Louisiana with their brand new daughter, Grace Olivia. Daughter Christi and husband Gerald O'Quinn live in Ridgeland, South Carolina, with their son Cliff, and daughter Hannah. Barry was the third and final child--the "baby"--of Mr. and Mrs. Hillary (Buck) Crain of Franklinton. The elder Mr. Crain worked at the Crown-Zellerbach paper mill in nearby Bogalusa, and Mrs. Crain was a nurse. Together they also managed a dairy, with assistance from the two older children. Barry admits that as the youngest he escaped the rigors of tending the dairy, and was a mite "spoiled," getting away with more than he otherwise might have. Paulette says he may still be slightly spoiled. When the elder brother, the middle child, finished high school and went away to college, they dairy was closed. Both parents died young, in their fifties. Barry's brother went to law school, practiced law, and was elected district judge, serving until retirement, when his son was elected as his replacement. Barry finished high school at Franklinton, and left for LSU, where he would earn a BS in forest management in 1968, and a masters in wildlife management in 1970. He and Paulette were married in April, 1965, during his second semester at the University. With his LSU degrees, Barry went to work for Gulf States Paper Company, managing forestry and habitat on the Tombigbee River in the Aliceville area. "That was prime wildlife country," Barry said. Fish and game were in abundance. "We had a lot of 'friends' from out of state, coming over for the hunting and fishing," Barry said. Later came an opportunity to move to South Carolina, to manage wildlife on the 62,000 acre Okeetee Plantation, owned by the Winthrop family. This was an altogether pleasant assignment, and tears were shed upon leaving to come back to Louisiana. The Crains' daughter and her family remain in South Carolina with their two children. As befits a man who spent a career managing wildlife, a large buck deer head (I didn't count the points) graces the wall above the living room fireplace. But, Barry said, his real love is bird hunting, especially wild turkeys. Acknowledging that turkey fans are a fanatic bunch, Barry laughed and said, "I've never used dope, but it can't be any more addicting than hunting turkeys." Barry joined the LSU AgCenter in August, 1995, after a total of 25 years with industrial and private forest landowners managing timber and wildlife resources. He has been recognized on both the state and national level by the County Agricultural Agents Association for his educational programs. In addition to working with all aspects of forestry and wildlife, Barry also devoted much effort to educating youth of the State through Forestry Awareness Week, and 4-H forestry projects. He became widely known in Central Louisiana for the convening the annual CENLA forestry field days at Woodworth, with educational programs for industrial and private forest landowners and forestry professionals. At a special retirement program at the LSU AgCenter campus at Alexandria on September 28, he was presented a Louisiana 4-H Clubs 100th Anniversary medallion by Dr. Paul Coriel, vice chancellor and director of the LSU AgCenter. |