Leaving a FACS Legacy is something Wanda and Earl Barrs always planned to do.  Wanda Taylor Barrs, BSHE ’74, says, “I knew as a College student that my true passion was education.  Currently, being involved on the state level, I draw on my FACS background and contacts often.  Giving back of my time and resources to my alma mater has never been a question for me.”

Wanda was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to lead the State Board of Education as Chair in 2003.  Her husband, Earl, BSFR ’74, is president of Knapp-Barrs & Associates and Due South Investments of Macon, a forestry consulting and real estate firm.  The couple lives in Cochran, GA.  They combined Earl’s love of forestry and Wanda’s passion for education by implementing the nationally recognized “Project Learning Tree” curriculum in their field excursions.  Thousands of school children and adults have visited Gully Branch, the family tree farm, where the Barrs teach forest sustainability and conservation.  Wanda has not only taught outside of the classroom, but has served as a Bleckley County middle school teacher.  Regardless of the type of instruction she’s delivered, Wanda says “Quite simply, being a FACS graduate, made me a better teacher!”

Being true partners, Wanda and Earl believe in sharing equally at the University of Georgia.  Recently, they created two endowments.  One is in the Warnell School of Forest Resources and the other is in our College.  FACS will use the gift to create a leadership identification fund.

Wanda states “There are often students who are growing in their leadership development.  They aren’t serving as the president of a club, but they COULD be the president one day.  Earl and I want to invest in those students by giving them some development opportunities which will build their confidence and ultimately make them better community servants and FACS professionals.”

The Barrs also wanted to secure their giving into the future.  They have made plans and documented them with the University to leave a more significant gift to the two Colleges that they love.  This makes Earl and Wanda part of the new FACS 100 Legacies in the Making Campaign. They do not see this as simply “their” legacy.  It is built on the values of their parents.  The Barrs and Taylor families believed in the value of education and “invested” in their children when resources were limited. Now Earl and Wanda want to extend that legacy. 

From these roots, additional branches are emerging.  The Barrs’ children, son Andy (MFR ’02) and daughter Meredith Barrs Potter (BSFCS ’04), earned their degrees from the same school and college as their respective parents.  With such dedicated models, it’s no wonder Meredith and Andy have begun to plan for their own legacies.  From little seeds, come deep roots.  We are proud that those roots are firmly planted at The University of Georgia.