<p>Bill Barnes, father of former Gov. Roy Barnes and a benefactor to the Cobb County city of Mableton, died at his home Wednesday night under hospice care.</p><p>He was 89.</p><p>Barnes was a merchant and landowner who operated a Mableton hardware store and a grocery store.</p><p>Roy Barnes was Georgia's governor from 1999-2003. He said he learned about governing from his father.</p><p>In a June 1990 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article the former governor said, "My daddy used to say, 'Have you ever wondered why two stores sit side by side, and one makes money and the other doesn't?' And at 14 or 15 I didn't care, but he'd always tell me anyway. It was management. And what's true for a store is true for the governor."</p><p>The former governor grew up working in the family's hardware store.</p><p>In 1989, Bill Barnes was honored for his contributions to Mableton. He had donated two acres of property valued at $50,000 to the South Cobb Development Authority.</p><p>The property is adjacent to the historic Mable House property, and the county's amphitheater is named for his family.</p><p>Bill Barnes' wife of 58 years, Agnes Barnes, died in August 1995.</p><p>Survivors include two other sons, Ray Barnes and Tommy Barnes, both of Mableton, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.</p><p>The funeral for William Columbus Barnes is at 2 p.m. Saturday at White Columns Chapel in Mableton. Visitation is at 6 p.m. Friday.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdbe40)</p>
