For Frank S. Barnes Jr., innovation was always a family affair.
For 33 years, Barnes served as president of Comporium Communications, formerly known as the Rock Hill Telephone Company. Though he turned over leadership to his son Bryant Barnes in 2002, he remained chairman of the board and chief executive officer.
During his time as president, the company purchased Stenseth directory, replaced electro-mechanical switching with electronic switching, started telewatch security systems and launched its first cable channel CN2 broadcast.
Through the years, the Barnes family and Rock Hill Telephone Co. have been among downtown’s biggest private investors.
The vision of an ever-growing communications industry in the city will now continue in the hands of others Barnes family members.
Frank S. Barnes Jr. died early Sunday morning at Piedmont Medical Center from a heart attack, family members said. It was on the day after he celebrated his 91st birthday, surrounded by family and friends who visited to wish him well.
‘Pioneers in the community’
City leaders and friends say Rock Hill would be a very different place had it not been for the influence of Barnes, his family and the company they helped grow.
Mayor Doug Echols said they are all “pioneers” in the community as well as in the communications industry.
“They were continuously upgrading the company and moving the company forward,” he said. “In many ways, one of the major factors of our community has been the growth of Comporium.”
Former Mayor Betty Jo Rhea also praised the contributions to the community made by Barnes and Comporium.
“They have certainly been very progressive with what they have done with Comporium,” she said.
Years ago, Rhea said she was taking a trip to California when Barnes asked her to first stop by a town and look at the computer-related network they had installed.
“I knew then they were thinking about that, and that was before people were even thinking about [computers and Internet],” she said. “They’ve really been a part of what’s happened in Rock Hill...very positive. They kept up with all the things that have been going on as far as computers and everything like that.”
‘Good to the community’
E.L. and Mary Barnes, Frank S. Barnes’ grandparents, bought the Rock Hill Telephone Co. in 1912. At that time, the company had 433 phones. By 1930, it had 1,445.
Frank S. Barnes Sr. joined the company around the time of World War I with his brother Ladson.
Barnes Sr.’s son, Frank S. Barnes Jr., was born in 1921 in Rock Hill, growing up on Marion Street.
Childhood friend Nancy Thomas lived a few streets over and attended First Presbyterian Church and Sunday school with the Barnes family in the early 1920s.
“I’ve always had a high respect for the Barnes family because I've known two or three generations of Barneses,” she said.
Barnes and his brothers – John Sr. and Edwin – along with cousin Lad Jr. knew they were going into the family business, she said.
“They have always contributed some kind of good to the community in different ways,” she said.
Barnes attended Rock Hill High School, then Clemson University for a bachelor’s degree.
When Barnes joined the company in 1946, he was the third generation of his family to do so.
Comporium provides communications services in York and Lancaster counties as well as parts of six counties in the Midlands and is the telephone exchange and cable TV operator in Transylvania County, N.C.
The company is a major investor in Immedion, a data center services provider in Asheville, N.C., Greenville and Columbia, and Home Telephone in Moncks Corner.
It also invested in iControl, a wireless security, monitoring and automation platform that combines with an alarm system.
‘A model of successful entrepreneurship’
Barnes will be remembered by the business model he helped build while at Comporium.
Winthrop University President Anthony DiGiorgio said Barnes had presided over a true “communications emporium.” He won the university’s Tower Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008, owing to his “inspirational leadership, integrity, benevolence and sound business acumen.”
“Perhaps most noteworthy in this day and age was his solid commitment to keeping Comporium headquartered in Rock Hill, even as its many services grew across South Carolina,” he said. “Rock Hill would not be the place it is today were it not for Frank Barnes”
Roger Weikle, dean of the College of Business Administration, also noted Barnes’ keen business sense.
“He can be appreciated by students of today as a model of successful entrepreneurship, changing with the times by combining technical training with business savvy,” Weikle said.
During his career, Barnes served as:
Director (1967-91) of the United States Telephone Association, president (1976) and secretary (1991)
President of the S.C. Independent Telephone Association (1956-60)
Director and president of the U.S. Independent Telephone Association in 1981
In the business world, he served as former director and chairman of Community Long Distance in Rock Hill, Home Telephone and Berkeley Cable TV in Moncks Corner, Video Vision in Lancaster, Catawba Services, Inc. and more. He was also former chairman for PalmettoNet and Telecom Associates, to name just a few.
‘A really fine person’
Many others remember him for the person he was.
“He was a really fine person, giving back to the community and his church,” Rhea said.
She said Barnes was very active in Westminster Presbyterian Church, where he served as an elder. He and his family were key players in the founding of that church and of Westminster Towers.
He was active in the community he loved, and served in a number of organizations:
Barnes was also a huge Clemson fan who loved outdoor activities, the beach and his family, Rhea said.
Robert Helmly, 84, CEO of Home Telephone Company in Moncks Corner, said Barnes was an “inspiration” to him. The two met in the 1950s and rarely let a week go by without talking.
Barnes was almost a brother, he said.
“He was as fine a gentleman as I've ever known in my life," he said. "He was born to serve, and serve he did. ...He loved Rock Hill.”
