Funeral services for Jerry Elvin Barrett will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in the chapel of Hixson Brothers Funeral Home of Pineville with Pastor Byron Reeves, Dr. John Roach, and Brother Jessie Campbell officiating. Burial will follow in Philadelphia Cemetery, Libuse.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home of Pineville. Visitation will continue from 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday until shortly before service time in the funeral home.

Jerry Elvin Barrett was born on August 25, 1938, on an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma and grew up in Silver Springs, Maryland, and in the Pollock/Georgetown area.

He began his career delivering newspapers before and after school at age nine, and sold eggs door-to-door from the farm.

He quit high school to work in a chicken hatchery but soon returned to school. After high school, he worked as a bank teller and a postman and joined the National Guard while going to college. He moved to Pineville, completed his last two years of college, and met Marcelle. During this time, he worked for Head Start.

He continued his education at LSU and earned a Master’s in Library Science. While there, he worked at the infirmary and parked cars for the games. He also worked for the Small Business Administration during his summer break.

In 1970, he began work with the Veterans Administration as Assistant Librarian at Battle Creek, Michigan VA Hospital. He transferred from there to the Chicago VA Hospital as Chief Librarian. From there, he went to Detroit as the Chief Librarian. While there, he went to the National Institute of Medicine to learn to teach doctors to use the computer for their needs.

He eventually transferred to Houston VA Hospital and was fortunate to work with some of the best doctors, including Dr. Debakey. He worked with the United Way for a month as the VA Representative and was an arbitrator for the Houston BBB. He became the public relations spokesman for the hospital while continuing his work for the doctors and lawyers. During this time, he also traveled the country during investigations for the VA.

He returned to Pineville in 2000 and began work with Crime Stoppers a short time later. He was Chairman for nineteen years. He also joined the Holiday Village Fire Department Board. He began to think of them all as family and enjoyed serving on the board greatly.

Jerry is survived by his wife of 56 1/2 years, Marcelle Brown Barrett. He is also survived by two sisters, Ann Calendine of West Virginia and Patricia Vagnoni of Utah; a sister-in-law, Claudette Brown, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Laura Barrett, and brothers, James, Charles, and Robert Barrett.

Those serving as pallbearers are Jessie Campbell, Beau Tucker, Tim McGlothlin, Brett Bolen, Ian Anthony, and Joseph Gauthreaux.

Honorary Pallbearers are R.D. Brown, Roy Brown, and Sam Tucker.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 6704, Hagerstown, MD 21741 or https://www.cancer.org/donate.html or the Holiday Village Fire Department, 5400 LA-28, Pineville, LA 71360.