Larry Barker, a major figure in the Communication discipline, passed
away recently. I first heard of Larry's work when I was an MA student at
Michigan State in the 1960s, and was fortunate enough to teach with him
at Auburn University in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Kittie Watson,
his student and long time colleague, has written a touching tribute to
Larry and has given me permission to share it with NCA members through
CRTNET. It is below.
Tom Steinfatt
Professor, UMiami
-- -- --
Larry Lee Barker, Ph.D.
Born November 22, 1941
Larry Lee Barker, Ph.D., a true renaissance man with talents and gifts
spanning many unique disciplines, died on June 18, 2016 at his home in
Kingston, OK after battling cancer for two years. He was 74.
Born in Ohio, Larry was an internationally published author, consultant,
musician and educator. Larry received his Ph.D. in organizational
communication from Ohio University in 1965 and became the youngest
person awarded the distinction of full professor in the field of
Communication. He taught at Purdue, Florida State and Auburn
Universities before moving into full time consulting in 1995. A leader
in many professional associations, Larry was past president of the
International Listening Association. He held membership in the American
Psychological Association and the American Society for Training and
Development. He also served as consulting editor and editor consultant
for publishers such as: Prentice-Hall, Houghton-Mifflin Company, Allyn
and Bacon, Addison-Wesley, W.C. Brown, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Internationally recognized as an authority on communication, listening
and nonverbal communication, Larry won numerous research and outstanding
teaching awards. Larry wrote over 40 books and 100+ articles in both
academic and popular publications. Achieving distinction with numerous
publications, he wrote the first research-based book on listening in
1971. His Communication book is in its 8th edition. His co-authored book
Groups in Process (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000) is now in it's 7th
edition. His co-authored book, Listen Up! was published in seven
languages. He co-authored the Listener Preference Profile, Watson-Barker
Listening Test, and Advocacy-Inquiry Skills Indicator. A collaborator
by nature, many of his books and articles are co-authored with leaders
of distinction, previous graduate students and business colleagues such
as: Bob Kibler, Gordon Wiseman, Phil Emmert, Charles Roberts, Manny
Steil, Renee Edwards, Janice Sargeant, Don Cegala, Debbie Roach,
Michelle Johnston, Loretta Malandro, Jeanine McGlade, Lisa Moore, Becky
Ripley and Kittie Watson. Larry's legacy includes dozens of graduate
students who have gone on to build significant accomplishments of their
own.
An accomplished musician, Larry began his lifelong love of music with
his first piano lessons at age five. In high school, Larry worked at a
radio station and served as a DJ. A percussionist at heart, he also
played the guitar, mandolin, keyboards, etc. While teaching at Florida
State University, he introduced a course on the Rhetoric of Rock and
Roll and formed a traveling band known as "Larry and the Love Notes."
While a professor at Auburn University, he organized and played in the
band, Sandstone. When jamming with friends, he could easily sound like
Buddy Holly and Elvis and actually performed as an Elvis Impersonator at
an International Conference in Seattle, WA.
A serial entrepreneur, Larry opened Rainbow River Studios in Auburn, AL,
in 1975. It included both retail and wholesale jewelry as well as arts
and crafts. He studied and became an accomplished jewelry smith creating
original rings, bracelets and necklaces in silver, copper and gold.
A sought after consultant and executive coach, Larry served as President
of SPECTRA Incorporated from 1979 to 2000 and a senior consultant with
Innolect Inc., from 2000 to 2016. As a consultant, Larry facilitated
hundreds of sessions for teams ranging from line employees to top
executives spanning healthcare, banking, oil and gas, utilities,
pharmaceutical and government agencies such as U.S. Army and U.S. Air
force. His clients have appreciated his ability to combine a sharp,
focused facilitation style with a personal touch. His training and
experience in creativity and innovation allowed him the option to help
clients think "out of the box." His many honors include the Golden Quill
of Merit from the International Association of Business Communicators
awarded for a corporate communication program he developed for a Fortune
500 company. An executive coach for high level executives, one of his
achievements was being featured as an executive coach on ABC's 20/20.
Larry partnered with Kittie Watson to create Sound SPECTRA Music (SMM)
which was incorporated in 1984. SMM is a music publisher affiliated with
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). In addition to music publishing, SSM owned
Rainbow River Studios and Rainbow River Digital Music. Larry served as
President of SSM and the Manager of Rainbow River Studios. Larry is a
Grammy nominated, Billboard Top 10 songwriter/composer and voting member
of NARAS in three categories: artist, songwriter/composer, and producer.
SSM also is affiliated with the Harry Fox Agency. He won the Cigar
Institute of America, First Place, Jingle Competition, 1985 and wrote
songs with Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers, with Lionel Ritchie of
the Commodores and "Big Bill" Morganfield, son of Muddy Waters. One of
SSM's major properties is Bop! The Musical. Two SSM albums are available
on itunes and Amazon, as well as approximately 20 other websites: "Bop!
The Musical" and "Different Strokes." One of his greatest pleasures was
playing the drums with his son, Bobby.
In 1984 Larry co-founded the Institute for the Study of Intrapersonal
Processes (ISIP) with Kittie Watson. He served as the Executive Director
of this nonprofit publicly supported foundation. Representative ISIP
Projects included:
- Sustainable Legacy Research - grant awarded to Innolect Inc.
to design, administer and prepare a report to assess and make
recommendations for increasing ROI for corporate social responsibility
volunteer efforts with nonprofit partners.
- Bozeman Senior Center - grant awarded to form the "Last Best
Geri-Actors" - - a seniors' theatre group performing readers' theatre
and musical performances at senior care facilities in Montana.
- Friends for Alabama Children's Fund - raised funds to provide
grants for low income children without health insurance or the benefits
of social service programs. The grant was administered in cooperation
with the Alabama Department of Child Welfare.
- Let's Keep the Music Playing - produced a record with the bass
player for the Commodores, Ron LaPread, and designed/produced a poster
signed by Auburn University Heisman Trophy winners to raise money to
award grants to children who "fell between the cracks" - i.e., children
who did not qualify for state or federal welfare programs, but needed
food, clothing and medical care.
- It's Your Body: Check Yourself Out - grant awarded to record
and disseminate an educational video to encourage self-examination for
the early detection of breast cancer among young and minority women. The
video used the Rap format and was set to an original song for the
project.
- Bop! the Musical - partial grant to develop and produce this
50's musical including 18 original songs. The production, including
scripts, music and advertising materials, is available to raise funds
for selected nonprofit organizations and foundations, including ISIP.
- Native American Inter-tribe Communication - grant awarded to
enhance communication among several Native American Tribes in Arizona.
The grant led to a conference among tribes aimed at resolving long lived
disputes and conflicts among the tribes.
- Listening Oral History Series - recording and dissemination of
listening field oral history materials to support the International
Listening Association. Among the experts interviewed for the series were
Ralph Nichols and James Brown, two pioneers in Listening research and
application.
- Ralph G. Nichols Listening Research Award - monetary award for
the best research-based or theoretical paper presented during the
International Listening Association Conference (1986-2002).
- James I. Brown Student Listening Research Award - monetary
award for the best research-based or theoretical student paper presented
during the International Listening Association Conference (1986 to
2002).
- Readings in Intrapersonal Communication Processes, Roberts, C.
& Watson, K.W. - Grant awarded to write and produce the first
comprehensive book of readings about theory and research in
intrapersonal communication: Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch-Scarisbrick
Publishers.
A lifelong student, Larry was committed to a spiritual practice that
combined Eastern Philosophy with Christianity. He was particularly
influenced by The Fourth Way, an approach to self-development described
by George Gurdjieff and explored more fully by P.D. Ouspensky and Marice
Nicole. Especially during the last ten years, Larry lead virtual reading
groups for those interested in their own growth and development. Two
devoted members were Faye Christensen and Catherine Weil. He lived by
the premise:
"A man who wants to awaken must look for other people who also want to
awake, and work together with them. The work of self-study can proceed
only in properly organized groups. One man alone cannot see himself. But
when a certain number of people unite together for this purpose they
will even involuntarily help one another."- G. I. Gurdjieff
Following in the footsteps of his father, Milford Barker, Larry was an
avid collector of antique cars, motorcycles, bicycles and antiques. One
of his collections included the original Bat Cycle, a series of
Studebakers ranging from a 1919 Big Six Touring to the Presidents
series, Indian Twin Motorcycle, Harley Davidson Factory Racer Motorcycle
and 1976 Avanti II.
Larry has had a variety of outside interests and excelled at whatever he
put his mind to doing. He was a masseuse, a video producer, a skilled
hypnotist and served as extras in two feature films: Norma Rae and Long
Riders. Larry enjoyed being by water, especially the ocean, and was an
avid fisherman, something he enjoyed doing with his two sons, including
both tournament bass and bill fishing. He was on the professional bass
fishing circuit for a couple of years and has written several books on
fishing.
Larry also enjoyed playing tournament blackjack. He was the 2007 Player
of the Year on the Tournament Blackjack Association's national tour.
Traveling later in life, he was hired by several cruise lines as a
mystery shopper and provided written assessments of their gaming
operations. Since the late 1990s he cruised worldwide. Courageous in
life and in death, Larry focused on the blessings he received in life.
Not able to drive or read extensively with paralysis of the left side of
his face for the last two years, he pushed himself to live life well.
His wife, Tammie, devoted herself to providing him ways to relax on
short cruises between treatments. Even during chemo, he continued to
enjoy the laughter of children, listening to books on tape, playing his
favorite music and having conversations with friends and Tammie.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Milford Barker and Ruth Barker.
Larry is survived by his wife, Tammie Barker, his sons, Theodore Barker,
Niceville, FL and Robert Barker, Tallahassee, FL and grandson, Ryan
Barker of Niceville, FL. He is also survived by step-children Melanie
Gann from Lavon, TX, Spencer Brown and Justin Brown from Kingston, OK,
and 4 step-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his honor to the Institute
of Intrapersonal Processes or the scholarship in the Department of
Communication at Auburn University.
Note: This tribute was written by Kittie Watson to honor her mentor,
friend, and business partner of over 40 years.
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