Tommy and Katherine Barron, despite their struggles with self-care, always watched over one another.
Their daughter, Sherene Thompson, fondly remembered the deep love between the Alabama couple, a love so profound that her father could not bear to live without her mother. Tragically, he passed away just hours after her on January 24.
Katherine Barron passed away at a local hospital shortly after 4 a.m. on that fateful day, with Tommy following about eight hours later. At the time of their passing, Katherine was 79, and Tommy was 81, as Thompson noted.
Katherine had been battling dementia, and her condition had deteriorated significantly over the last six months. Thompson described her mother’s struggles, saying, “She didn’t remember anybody,” and that she rarely responded to questions or people in the room. Eventually, she contracted COVID-19, leading to pneumonia, and her multiple hospital visits culminated in pneumonia and a fatal blood clot in her lung.
Thompson, their only child, was by her mother’s side when she passed, and her father was there as well.
“I don’t want to make it without her,” her father expressed. “I can’t make it without her. I just want to go with her.”
While Tommy had his share of health issues, Thompson firmly believes it was his profound love for her mother that ultimately took his life. He passed away around 11:00 a.m. at the Albertville assisted living home where they had lived together.
“I honestly believe that he died of a broken heart,” she remarked.
Friends had introduced Tommy and Katherine in the 1960s. Thompson believes her father’s resemblance to country singer Conway Twitty initially attracted her mother. Twitty happened to be Katherine’s favorite singer, and as Thompson pointed out, “If you look at the pictures of my dad, he favored him a lot.” Their courtship began, culminating in a spontaneous wedding in Trenton, Georgia, a departure from the more common practice of running off to Las Vegas for young Alabama couples in the 1960s.
In the 1970s, Tommy, with only an eighth-grade education, established his own used car lot. Katherine initially stayed at home, but when her husband opened the business, she joined him, managing the finances and occasionally helping with car cleaning. They successfully ran the business for approximately four decades.
“He had no accounting experience or whatever, but he could tell you every dime that was in his bank account, where it came from,” Thompson noted. “I mean, he was just that particular.”
Despite a serious accident 25 years ago when he fell from a tree and became essentially disabled, Tommy continued to work as much as he could. Later, a hip fracture further exacerbated his health issues.
“He could barely get around,” Thompson said. “Most of the time, he was in a wheelchair. My mom, she was healthy as a horse until she was diagnosed with dementia about three or four years ago.”
Katherine had a passion for music, once meeting Jerry Lee Lewis, and was known for her impeccable fashion sense. Thompson recalled, “She kept Belk in business,” emphasizing her mother’s weekly visits to the store. Katherine insisted on staying in style and never ventured to the grocery store without her makeup perfectly applied and her hair meticulously in place. Since her passing, people have complimented Thompson on her mother’s fashion sense, remarking on her beauty at the memorial service.
For the couple’s memorial service, Thompson made sure to have her mother’s makeup done to perfection, recognizing it as something that would have mattered deeply to her.
During a joint memorial service on Sunday, Tommy and Katherine were honored, and Conway Twitty’s “The Rose” played in their memory. They were laid to rest side-by-side, next to Tommy’s parents.
Above all, their daughter cherished the fact that, regardless of their challenges, Tommy and Katherine always looked after each other. “My mom could barely get around, but she made sure to hold on to my dad so he wouldn’t fall,” Thompson said. And when dementia caused her mother to forget her meals, he ensured she ate. “They just took care of each other,” she fondly remembered.