Virgil Lee Barnes, born August 7th, 1952, in Southern California passed away at his home in Franklin, NC on September 10, 2024.

Virgil lived a good and big, if not as long, life as he would have liked, leaving lasting memories with friends and family in California, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

The oldest, along with two sisters Katy and Michelle, Virgil was born to Julia McMurran and Roy Barnes in California. Virgil lived much of his young life traveling with his father, a journeyman concrete finisher. This life allowed Virgil to meet the love of his life at the age of 14 when he lived for a few years in Redding, California. Six years later, after a tour in Vietnam, he proposed to Deborah Ballard. They were married on November 18, 1972, in California and moved to Minneapolis, MN in 1973, with their son Christian. Their daughter, Carrie, was born in Minneapolis in the summer of 1974. At this time Virgil was working as a meat cutter for Ellison Meats. After enduring a work-related injury Virgil turned to one of his first passions: flying.

Flying was the core of Virgil's personal and professional life for the next 30 years. After being a flight instructor at Skyline Flight at Anoka County Airport in the early 1980s, Virgil also became a flight instructor for experimental ultralight aircraft at Northern Sun in Lake Elmo, MN. To bring ultralight flight to the Northern Suburbs of Minneapolis, Virgil began flight instruction at Gateway Industrial Park, an unpaved runway with a small flying club located in Ramsey, MN. This venture became Virgil's opportunity to start his first business, Gateway Aero. He, with the unpaid help of his family, brought Gateway Aero from a one plane, one instructor to a six plane, four instructor flight school before the city closed the field in 1991. Almost sensing the future in Ramsey, Virgil began to shift operations to the Anoka County Airport in Blaine by 1991. There he ran Anoka Flight Training, AFT, until his first retirement in 2000.

During these years Virgil and the AFT flight instructors taught hundreds of people how to fly for pleasure and for professional growth. Several flight instructors and students went on to become airline pilots for airlines ranging from regional airlines to Delta and United. AFT was a family, and the annual holiday party was something to remember. In Fall 2023 a current United Airlines pilot reached out to thank Virgil for supporting her back in the late 1990s in her goals to become a pilot.

Virgil's first retirement lasted for only six months before he owned his third and final business, M&G Trailer Sales in Ramsey, MN. He retired for the final time in the spring of 2011. After a spring snowstorm in 2013 Virgil and Deborah made the decision to move back to California, between 2014 and 2020 they lived in Shingletown, Lake California, and Red Bluff. In 2020, they moved to Franklin, North Carolina in Western North Carolina to be near their daughter who had moved there to be a professor at Western Carolina University in 2010.

Virgil joined the Army in late August of 1969, shortly after he turned 17th. After basic training Virgil served at Fort Wainwright in Alaska as a boat captain and general mechanic. In March of 1971 he was deployed to Vietnam as part of the B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Artillery, 196th Infantry Brigade. Being in field artillery, Virgil was the last member onto the Chinooks before and after being dropped onto the tops of Agent Orange cleared hills to fire their guns in support of Army operations in the area. He returned to the United States in late January 1972, with an honorable and final discharge from the Army in August of 1975.

He was unafraid to take risks, personally and professionally. He was always there to lend a hand, or some money, to help people improve their lives. He rode motorcycles nearly his whole life, which led his daughter to follow suit, which brought mixed emotions: fear and pride. He was well known for taking his family up logging roads in his sedans, always looking for adventure and wondering where the road may lead.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and his son, Christian. He is survived by his wife, Deborah Ballard Barnes, Franklin, NC and daughter Carrie Rogers [Mike Rogers], Sylva, NC, and his sisters Katy Martin and Michelle Givens, Placerville, CA.

A celebration of life will be held at Trinity Church in Franklin, NC on Saturday, October 19th at 10 a.m. Later that evening a toast will be held at Mixer's Bar & Grill in Franklin at 5 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Passion For Life Ministries (https://passionforlifeministries.org/) or Trinity Church (https://www.trinitywnc.com/site/) to support their mission trips.

Online condolences can be made at www.maconfuneralhome.com.