Wallace Barnes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wallace Barnes
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| Born | March 22, 1926 Bristol, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Died | December 10, 2020 (aged 94) Washington, D.C., U.S.
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| Alma mater | Deerfield Academy, Williams College, Yale Law School |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Hackman Franklin |
Wallace Barnes (born March 22, 1926 – died December 10, 2020) was a very important leader at Barnes Group, Inc.. This company makes parts for planes and other machines all over the world. You can find the company's symbol, "B", on the New York Stock Exchange, which is a big place where companies' shares are bought and sold.
Wallace Barnes was also a politician in Connecticut. He served as a state senator and even ran to be the governor of Connecticut. He was also in charge of the Republican Party in his hometown of Bristol. Besides his business and political work, he was a lawyer and served on the boards of many different companies. He also attended many big meetings for the Republican Party.
He studied at Williams College and Yale Law School. Wallace Barnes was married to Barbara Hackman Franklin, who used to be the US Secretary of Commerce. They lived in Bristol, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. Wallace Barnes was part of the Barnes family, who were among the very first people to settle in Bristol.
Contents
Early Life and Family History
Wallace Barnes was born in Bristol, Connecticut. His parents were Lillian Houbertz and Harry Clarke Barnes, and he was one of four children. He was named after his grandfather, Wallace Barnes, who started the Barnes Group company way back in 1857. His family, the Barnes, were the first people to settle in Bristol in 1728.
His grandfather, Wallace Barnes, was born in 1827. He first worked in his family's store in Bristol as a druggist. Later, he became a clock-maker. When one company he worked for went out of business, they paid him with something unusual: hoop skirt wire! Hoop skirts were popular back then.
His grandfather sold the wire for over $1,500. With that money, he started his own business in 1857, making hoops and steel springs. When hoop skirts became less popular, he focused only on making springs starting in 1859. This small spring-making business grew into what is now the Barnes Group.
When Wallace Barnes was a teenager, he loved flying. During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps to train as a pilot. He went to public schools in Bristol and then graduated from Deerfield Academy in 1944.
After high school, he went to Williams College and graduated in 1949 with a degree in Economics. He was a very good student and was even the Vice President of his class. Then, he went to Yale University and earned a law degree in 1952. While there, he helped edit the Yale Law Journal.
Wallace Barnes's Career
Flying High
Wallace Barnes loved to fly his whole life. He became a professional pilot and could fly large planes like the Cessna Citation. He even owned his own plane, which he kept at his home in Connecticut.
In 1949, while he was still in college, Barnes started his own charter airline called Nutmeg Air Transport Inc. He was the president of this company until 1955. He also worked for a commercial airline called Northeast Airlines, Inc., in 1951.
In 2012, Wallace Barnes received a special award called the Federal Aviation Administration's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. This award is given to pilots who have flown safely for 50 years or more, showing great skill and professionalism.
Leading the Barnes Group
From 1952 to 1962, Wallace Barnes worked as a lawyer in Bristol. In 1963, the Associated Spring Corporation, which grew from his grandfather's spring company, became listed on the New York Stock Exchange. That same year, Wallace Barnes became the president of the company.
A really cool fact is that the Associated Spring Corp. made the springs used in the Apollo 11 spacecraft when it landed on the moon in 1969!
In 1976, the Associated Spring Corp. officially changed its name to The Barnes Group. In 1977, Wallace Barnes became the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. He held these top positions until he retired in 1991. After him, William R. Fenoglio became CEO, and he was the first person from outside the Barnes family to lead the company.
Even after retiring as CEO, Wallace Barnes stayed on as Chairman of the Board until 1996. He had been on the company's board since 1963, helping to guide its direction for many years.
Political Life
Wallace Barnes was active in politics in Bristol, Connecticut. He was the chairman of the Republican Party in his town from 1953 to 1955. In 1954, he ran for U.S. Congress but lost.
In 1958, he was elected as a Connecticut State Senator and served for two terms until 1962. He was elected again as a State Senator from 1966 to 1970. During this time, he worked on important issues like improving the court system and protecting the environment. In 1968, he was chosen by everyone to be the Senate Minority Leader, which meant he was the main leader for the Republican senators.
In April 1969, there was a famous protest in the Connecticut Senate. The Democratic senators were having long private meetings and showing up late to the main Senate sessions. The Republicans, who were outnumbered, were upset. On April 23, the Republicans started banging their shoes on their desks to show their protest. This was similar to a famous protest by Nikita Khrushchev at the United Nations.
The next day, Wallace Barnes put his right boot on his desk as a symbol of the protest. The protest ended on May 6, 1969, when Republicans placed hundreds of pairs of shoes on the sidewalk in front of the state capitol building. The shoes were later given away to charity.
Wallace Barnes also worked on other important state committees. In 1997, the Governor of Connecticut, John G. Rowland, asked Barnes to lead the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission. This job involved making sure that all education, job training, and employment programs in Connecticut worked well together.
In 1970, Barnes ran for governor of Connecticut but lost in the primary election. He was friends with his opponent, Thomas J. Meskill, before and after the election.
Wallace Barnes was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention many times, helping to choose the party's presidential candidate.
Community and Business Roles
Wallace Barnes served on the boards of many different companies and groups. In 1962, he joined the Bristol Board of Finance for three years. He also became president of the Bristol Boys and Girls Club in 1965 and later became an honorary director. He was also president of the Bristol Community Chest in 1956, which helped raise money for local charities.
He was a trustee at the Yale–New Haven Hospital and the University of Hartford. He was even the chairman of the University of Hartford from 1991 to 1993 and received an honorary degree from them in 1988.
Barnes was a director for almost twenty other companies and groups. These included the Metro Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturer's Association of Hartford, the Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford, the Loctite Corporation, and the Rogers Corporation. He was also a director and chairman for Rohr, Inc., and chairman of Tradewind Turbines Corporation.
In 1971, Barnes joined the board of directors for the Aetna Life and Casualty Company, a big insurance company. He served on this board until 1996. While on the board, he met Barbara Hackman Franklin in 1984, and they got married two years later. When Barbara Hackman Franklin became the United States Secretary of Commerce in 1992, she had to be careful not to make decisions about the car and aircraft parts industries. This was because her husband's family business, the Barnes Group, made those kinds of parts.
Awards and Recognition
In 1955, Wallace Barnes was honored as the "Outstanding Young Man of the Year" by the Jaycees, a leadership training organization. In 1967, the Boys Club of America gave him the "Keystone Award" for his leadership and service.
On March 24, 2008, a new art gallery at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, Connecticut, was named "The Wallace Barnes and Barbara Hackman Franklin Art Gallery" in honor of him and his wife.
Images for kids
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Wallace Barnes
