Barnes named to VFW Ladies Auxiliary chair

Warren County resident Phyllis Barnes has been the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 5 president for the last year. She has recently been named membership chairperson for the VFW Ladies Auxiliary of Middle Tennessee.

There are three chairs for the state of Tennessee ? West, Middle and East. Barnes will be leading and encouraging five districts and 34 auxiliaries totaling about 3,500 members as Middle Tennessee?s representative. The success of any auxiliary, Barnes says, is due to the strong growth of membership which is her No. 1 goal.

?I?m always working on opening up new auxiliaries,? said Barnes. ?My goal is to get veterans? wives to become life members. We need younger members to learn the rituals.?

Barnes has been quite successful in this district when it comes to growth. Under Barnes? leadership, her district was at 101.60 percent by the first of March.

?Throughout the nine auxiliaries in my district,? said Barnes, ?all of them were over 100 percent in membership except for three and they lacked about seven more members. We are going all the way and we will have more by the time I go to the VFW state convention in June.?

The convention is a three-day teaching process. During the convention, members are given awards for their activities during the past year. One of the awards is district president of the year, which Barnes believes she has a good chance of winning. ?I?m up for several and I intend on bringing back a lot of them this year,? said Barnes.

Barnes has also been asked to run for state office next year in July. If she wins the state office, she will be state president of the Ladies Auxiliary within five years.

?I was so shocked when they asked me to run for state office,? said Barnes. ?I had already told them I would be VFW Ladies Auxiliary District 5 president again this year before I was named Middle Tennessee membership chairman. It?s hard work but it?s a worthwhile cause.?

Warren County has never had a resident become Ladies Auxiliary State President to the VFW.

?This will be the first for VFW Post 5064,? said Barnes. ?I?m representing Warren County as well as my other auxiliaries.?

Phyllis is married to Jerry L. Barnes. She has two sons and daughters-in-law, Jeff and Jennifer McGee, and Lynn and Judy McGee, and a daughter and son-in-law, Jocelyn and Chad Campbell and two grandsons, Jon Thomas and Carter.

?I hadn?t planned on going this far,? said Barnes. ?After state president is national president. I know that?s a big step but I think with everyone?s support, anything is possible.?