An Alabama National guard veteran, a trial lawyer, a defense attorney, a historian and a storyteller is who the late Jerry Barksdale was to Athens and the Limestone County community.

He passed away April 6, 2020, at the age of 78.

He was even a founding member of the Alabama Republican Party. He was one of the Alabama Republican Pioneers who became active in the Republican Party in the 1950s, according to algop.org. But Jerry Barksdale’s passion was in storytelling — not just about his life, but of veterans and history.

“For years and years, he would get up at 4:30 to 5 in the morning and go to his writing table, in his writing chair, and just write,” Matthew Barksdale said.

Many of his columns on veterans can be found in old News Courier editions and digital archives.

Jerry Barksdale started out as a writer at the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, where a memorial will be held in his honor Saturday. The memorial will follow the Coffee Call at 8 a.m.

“(The columns) really stirred up a lot of attention towards veterans,” Matthew Barksdale said. “He was always just real honored and had always been involved and tried to bring light to all our forgotten heroes.”

Jerry Barksdale, according to Matthew Barksdale, got to where he was because of all the hard work he put in. He went from the National Guard to Law School and worked two to three jobs at a time to make ends meet.

“He came out of dirt-poor poverty to help make an impact,” he said.

Matthew Barksdale grew up in Lester and acknowledged he and his family didn’t even have phones for four to five years.

“We moved out there from Athens because President Carter gave Daddy a scare,” he said. “He thought everything was going to hell in a hand basket, so he bought some land, and if we needed to, we could live off the land out there and have a yard with cows, chickens, pigs and horses. We did all that, and it was an adventure.”

Jerry Barksdale was a storyteller, but in Matthew Barksdale’s mind, he leaves behind so much more than stories. He leaves behind a legacy of honoring veterans and of preserving and passing on history.

“A lot of people knew him,” Matthew Barksdale said. “Anywhere I have ever been, he always ended up knowing somebody. He knew so many people. We’d be out in the country driving around, and he’d look over and say, ‘Hey, there’s Billy Ray in his yard,’ and he’d go over and talk to him.”

While Jerry Barksdale also leaves behind a lasting legacy on the bench in a courtroom, at his writing table and at the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives, to his son, he was still Dad.

“He was a funny, comical guy. He loved history; he loved preserving our heritage and sharing it,” he said. “He was just a wonderful human being. He was the light that showed up in the room,“ Matthew Barksdale said. “If there was a frown or a dark cloud in the room, it left when he got there, because he was all smiles. He was just a good, good person.”