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Man Dies In Crystal Springs House Fire

News Channel 8 photo by Eric Hausmann

Pasco Fire Rescue responded to a fire at 39426 Central Ave. early Wednesday morning.

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Reporter Lisa A. Davis contributed to this report. Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at nwhite1@tampatrib.com or (813) 779-4613.

Published: December 19, 2007

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - He was a history buff, both about the place he lived and the family he loved.

He traced his family tree back to the 1700s. He could identify anyone in the old black-and-white photographs in the Crystal Springs Community Association hall.

Oakley Barnard, 71, died early Wednesday morning in a fire that engulfed his home at 39426 Central Ave. The fire, which broke out just before 2 a.m., appeared to start in his living room and is under investigation, Pasco County Fire Rescue officials said.

Family Provided Photo

Barnard's son-in-law broke a window with his hand, trying to try to save him, but couldn't. Barnard's wife, Shirley, 69, survived, family friend Vicki Buchanan said.

Barnard lived at least 30 years in Crystal Springs, a small, rural hamlet just south of Zephyrhills and near the Hillsborough County line. He went to community association meetings every month, always volunteered for the yearly coastal cleanup and cemetery cleanup duty. He also served as a poll worker on Election Day, neighbors and friends said.

"Any questions I had about history, he could answer," said Annette Brooks, president of the Crystal Springs Community Association. "He could tell you what houses used to sit where, what they did with them. He loved to just talk about and tell all kinds of history."

He loved family history, too. He scoured census figures and church records to learn about his own. He'd constructed a family tree that went back to the 1700s. Family members held out hope that his research could be saved from the fire, Buchanan said.

Barnard was a soft-spoken man who worked as a maintenance man at several gas stations in Plant City. He also worked on cars in the garage next to his house, said neighbor Truman Rooks, owner of the Crystal Springs Roller Rink.

In his retirement years, Barnard served on the residents advisory panel for CF Industries, the phosphate company just south of Crystal Springs. He was good at rounding people up for things, such as the recent Christmas party the company threw for people in Crystal Springs.

"Everybody knew him. Anytime anybody needed any help, he'd help them," Rooks said.

Neighbor Sandy Heath trusted her children with the Barnards. They babysat her three kids for years, she said.

"They both are nice, Christian people. They were good neighbors," she said. "When my husband passed away, they came over to bring me food and to talk."

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