Barks' marriages

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

KRITON KYRIMIS, 23-04-2001:

> Does anyone know the name of Barks' *first* wife? 

In 1921 Barks had married his first wife Pearl Turner, a hometown girl from
Merrill. They got two daughters, Peggy and Dorothy, before they separated
in (about?) 1929. 

Barks returned to Oregon and a period of free-lancing before being offered
a staff job in the Eye-Opener's office in Minneapolis. He is forever 
grateful to his in-laws who took in his two young daughters and "raised 
them right" at their home in Merrill. (Source: CBL 7.)

[Don't know if "raised them right" is a quote from Barks. No source is
given, so maybe it isn't.]


Information on Barks' first father-in-law:

In a December 11, 1991 interview, Barks told Geoffrey Blum about the origin
of the unknown word "bohimation" in panel 5.7 of "The Mighty Trapper" 
(WDC 36).

"The only person I ever heard use the word was my first father-in-law. He
was an Englishman, and when he was talking to kids, he would tell them
scary stories about these big bohimatons that'd come down the stairs in the
dark. And I think I did find it in a dictionary one time." (Barks gets the
dictionary, but cannot find the word.) 

In 1978, Barks told in an interview with Michael Barrier that he had picked
the word up from an Englishman he had known in a logging camp, when he was
young. "That was a word he would use once in a while, to describe something
of huge size." 

When Geoffrey Blum asked Barks whether it was his first-father-in-law or a
man in a logging camp, Barks answered: "Well, he was a logger." 

(Source of Blum interview: "The Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's 
Comics and Stories in Color No. 2. Source of Barrier interview: Barrier,
page 166.)


Information on Barks' daughter Peggy:

According to Barks' third wife Gare, "Peggy was another Carl -- but instead
of writing humor, it would just pour out of her". Peggy died in 1963.
(Source: "The Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
in Color" album No. 6. Quote is taken from a telephone conversation with 
Geoffrey Blum, April 26, 1992.)

In Barrier, Peggy is credited for the ideas for "The Magic Ink" (US 24); 
knight story (WDC 198); pet service (WDC 200); wishing stones (WDC 211); 
dolphins (WDC 218); wax museum (WDC 231).


> All I know is that Barks first marriage ended in a painful divorce, and 
> that his bad experience with lawyers during the divorce procedures
> inspired the character of Sharky in "The Golden Helmet".

You're reffering to Barks' second wife, Clara. (Source: CBL 7, page 13.)
This marriage ended in divorce in December 1951. 
(Source: Barrier, page 87.) 

I think I've heard that this divorce had an influence on "Back to the 
Klondike" (OS 456), too. (Can someone verify if this information is
right or wrong?)


The maiden name of Barks' third wife Gare is Margaret Williams. They 
married in 1954. (Source: Barrier, page 87.) She assisted Barks by doing
the lettering and by drawing the backgrounds. Gare was from Hawaii. 

Gare was a painter. As far as I know, she was Barks' main inspiration to
become a painter, too. 

Gare died on 10 March 1993. I have no idea about her birth date.
Does someone here know when and where she was born?


Best wishes,

--- Daniel