Jonathan Bradley Barnard

Jonathan Bradley Barnard, the first born son of Don and Bonnie Mae Barnard was dedicated to God and the work of the Holy Spirit as an infant. An adorable little boy, a big brother who loved his sister, Sarah and little brother, Kevin. A rebellious teen for a few years, and then Jonathan as an adult. Jonathan as an adult loved his family and its newest addition, his sister-in-law, Rosario. But he especially loved his girls, his dogs: Honey and Ginger, and his calico cat, Willow.

Jonathan loved pets and plants. He loved growing things: trees, things to eat and things that were unique. He was especially good at making floral arrangements with succulents, ferns and cactus, or unique arrangements of flower combinations. He delighted in making arrangements to give away or to sell at the farmers market in New Mexico. He raised chickens from little, tiny two-day-old baby birds with heat lamps and eye dropper feeding to full grown hens. He purchased a variety of baby chicks deliberately to have eggs of different colors. So he had white, blue, green and brown eggs. He gave many away and sold others at the Farmers Market, and of course, whenever visiting his parents, brought dozens of colorful eggs.

He lived in the rural Mimbres Valley. At night it was impossible to count all of the stars visible in the sky; because I live in Torrance, California, I see very few stars, but in Mimbres they are glorious sight; the Heavens really do declare God’s majesty. One time there, as I stared at the sky, and realized that these beautiful stars are always there, I just can’t see them in Torrance, the Lord reminded that like the stars, He is always near, even though I can’t see Him. Mimbres in the daytime presents another spectacular view; one of the mountains surrounding the valley, and a short five-minute walk down a dirt road with trees that canopy over the road, took him to the Mimbres River where he, Ginger and Honey played for hours.

When he could not do those things any more, he brought Honey, Ginger and Willow with him to live with mom and dad. We are grateful to God for the time we spent together. We were not sure about his relationship with Christ Jesus; he had accepted Christ into his heart as a child, but was angry at God for most of the last nine years. That is why were are asking for NO FLOWERS. Instead there will be a donation box at the service or “Amigos Sin Barreras,” (Friends Without Barriers), the organization that helped him so much and whose founder, Alma Martinez, made certain of his relationship with Christ Jesus. So, in lieu of flowers, at the service, please put what you can into the box for “Amigos” or make an online donation at www.amigosonline.org in the optional second line of billing address please put “Jonathan Barnard.”

His family, both human and pets will always miss Jonathan, but we take comfort in knowing we will be with him again in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.