Retired Brigadier General will be guest speaker on Square

Batesville will mark Memorial Day with the presentation of the Exchange Club’s annual program on the Square. The event will begin at 11 a.m. and feature Mississippi Ambassador Margarett Barnes of Jackson as guest speaker.

All city and county government offices will be closed, as well as banks and many other businesses. Trash collection will be delayed one day this week for all routes. Mail will not be delivered.

Memorial Day, a federal holiday held the last Monday in May, is the nation’s foremost annual day to mourn and honor its deceased service men and women. 

Originally called Decoration Day, it was formalized by a “Memorial Day Order” issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.

Memorial Day honors those who lost their lives in active military service. Veterans Day is set aside in the fall to recognize all persons who have served in the U.S. Military.

The Exchange Club’s guest speaker, Army Reserve Ambassador Barnes, is a retired Brigadier General who served the nation for more than 37 years. She was commissioned in 1984 as an Army Reserve officer and also served three years as an enlisted soldier.

Barnes’ military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and the Meritorious Service Medal. She served as an administrator in the Mississippi court system at the local and state levels. 

She retired from the Mississippi Department of Education in 2007.

Barnes and her husband, Col. Robert L. Barnes (Ret), make their home in Jackson.