Lucille Barnes

Lucille was born was born on September 15, 1936 in Seattle, Washington to Howard and Annie Woods. At the age of 7, she along with her mother and siblings relocated to Merced, California. She attended Farmdale School, Galen Clark Elementary, John Muir Junior High, and Merced High School. Due to her mother’s illness, she and her siblings lived with her grandfather John Slaton and later with her uncle and aunt, Jack and Levongia Slaton and their family. While living with her Uncle Jack, Lucille and the other kids worked the fields, picking fruits and vegetables, chopping cotton and cutting grapes. At 14 years of age, she started working at F&P Cannery for 9 years.

During her junior year of high school, she attended the school prom with an unlikely date, a gentleman by the name of Danny Barnes. Reportedly, since junior high school, Danny Barnes had attempted to court Lucille, but she was not only uninterested in his romantic advances, she really didn’t like Danny then. However, much of that changed. Lucille and Danny finally agreed to be more than just acquaintances and started to date for a couple of years. On August 1, 1955, she married Danny Barnes. To this union five children were born: Charles, John, Daniel, Denise, and Diane. Their matrimony lasted 59 years until his untimely death in September 2014.

Mrs. Barnes worked at Mohawk Service Station for six and a half years, then at the U.S. Postal Service where she became the 1st female mail carrier in Merced history. She worked from 1965 until 1976, when she retired. Not letting time go by wastefully, she skilled up on tax preparation and bookkeeping, forming Barnes Tax Services. During this time she also volunteered as an AARP tax aide during tax season. She retired from Barnes Tax Services in 2007 due to complications with her vision. Lucille was the first African-American and woman to serve as a trustee on the Mosquito Abatement Board. She served for 26 years (1981 – 2007) and represented the City of Merced for the Merced County Mosquito District. In her spare time she enjoyed sewing, bowling, bingo, and going to the casino. One of Lucille’s favorite sayings is “Blood is thicker than water”.

She was preceded in death by her husband Danny, son John, her parents, and her siblings Bertha and John.

She is survived by her sons – Charles of Merced, Daniel (Deneva) of Fresno; her daughters – Denise of Sacramento and Diane (Fred) of Sacramento; sister, Rosetta; 11 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren, 2 great great grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and family members.

A viewing will be held at Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home located at

1490 B Street, Merced, CA, on Thursday, January 7, 2021 from 2 p.m.– 5 p.m. Services will be private for the family. A Celebration of Life is planned for a later date.