Friends, family members and former colleagues attended a celebration of life for Joyce Barnes at the TransAlta Commons on the Centralia College campus on Saturday, Dec. 27.
Barnes died peacefully in her Centralia home on Oct. 10, 2025. She was 91.
Barnes was born on Dec. 27, 1933, in Ventura, California, and first moved to Centralia in 1949.
Barnes, a Centralia College graduate, served two terms on the city council in the late 1980s and mid-1990s and then another following election in 2016. She ran again for city council in 2023 at the age of 89.
She served on the city council when Centralia first transitioned from a commissioner to a council-manager form of government Barnes also served on the city planning commission and the fire advisory board, and she was the supervisor and manager for the Pearl Street Veterans Memorial Pool, working to keep the pool open.
She also spent time on the Chehalis-Centralia Airport Board and Destination Centralia, and she worked as a real estate agent in Centralia.
According to previous Chronicle reporting, Barnes was the last surviving founder of the Centralia Summerfest celebration and served as the grand marshal of the Fourth of July event in 2017 after being involved in the event for over 40 years. Barnes lived in the Hub City for over seven decades after growing up in Ventura, California.
“I think it’s the best place in the world,” Barnes said of Centralia in a 2017 Chronicle article.
