Mrs. Pat Barnett

The Donald Wayne Barnett Memorial Scholarship honors a man who felt deep gratitude for his Stephen F. Austin State University education and wanted others to have the chances he did. His family and friends established the scholarship to benefit people like him.
Don Barnett ’62 and ’64 was born in 1935 on a farm on the black-land prairie of North Central Texas and graduated from Kerens High School, where he excelled in football. He began dating Patricia Anderson in 1956. The Barnetts marked their 52nd wedding anniversary in 2009. They are life members of the SFA Alumni Association. Don worked as a roughneck before taking more regular work in Nacogdoches to support his growing family. He earned both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from SFA while working full time. He managed cafeterias at SFA until retiring in 1997. Don enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren, visiting old friends in Kerens and Corsicana and finding lost treasures.