John R Barber
October 6, 1940 — January 27, 2021
John Robert Barber died on Wednesday January 27th at his home in Bryan following a long illness. He leaves his wife of 39 years, Jeanne Hyndman Barber and his son Gunter Barber. Also remaining are his mother-in-law, Lois Hyndman and brother-in-law John Hyndman both of Bryan and his brother and sister-in-law Gerald and Judith Hyndman of San Antonio.
He was born in Hollywood, California in 1940
to Robert Estelle and Rubye (Gunter) Barber. While growing up in San Antonio and Rockport he developed a love of Texas history and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Building boats and cruising the waterways became his lifelong pursuit.
He enlisted in the US Navy at seventeen, serving aboard the USS Boxer, USS FD Roosevelt, and USS Shangri-La. After earning an honorable discharge at twenty-one and with only a GED, he returned to Texas.
He worked in sales of ice machines and poultry equipment, but his dreams of boats and the water led him to Florida to sell Cobia Boats. At twenty-nine he became a vice president of a subsidiary of Ashland Oil that pioneered the design of the first 70-foot fiberglass shrimp boats. At thirty-five he decided to pursue a college education. He became one of the first participants in a pilot program for educating older adults at The University of South Florida, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Behavioral Sciences.
He used his business experience to start his own company and began developing and marketing polyurethane products including the Barco impeller that is still being manufactured today. On one of his many sales trips covering the Gulf states he met Jeanne Hyndman. They married at her parents home in Corpus Christi and worked together to market the Barco impeller worldwide. After selling the company and just before the birth of their son, they moved back to his favorite place, Rockport. Besides continuing to work in sales and marketing, representing various manufacturers and importers, he began building his dream boat, a project that took six years. Although his business endeavors took the family to Bryan in 1999 he still maintained his boat on the coast.Plans for a memorial service are pending. Donations to his memory can be made to Hospice Brazos Valley at HospiceBrazosValley.org/Donate and to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society at nationalmssociety.org.
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