Casey Scott Barnum

Casey “Scott” (Davis) Barnum was born on June 16,1960, in Casper WY. He took his first breath in heaven on November 17, 2021, at Swedish Medical Center, Englewood, CO.

As a child, Scott lived in Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, and moved to Colby in 1972 when his parents, John and Shirley Barnum, were called to the Colby Presbyterian Church. He graduated from Colby High School in 1979 and bought his first house the following summer. Remodeling and renting houses became a business as he also worked for Colby Glass. He met Jan Coffey Thanksgiving of 1985 where someone asked Scott how many houses he had. Jan thought he was crazy when he answered “14”….. little did she know! Scott and Jan married on July 12, 1986, in Colby, KS.

Scott and Jan opened a music store, “The Music Staff” together in 1986. In 1992, Scott started working as an auto and home adjuster for American Family Insurance, balancing the growing rental business with Jan at his side. Their first child, Amanda, was born that year. He was a proud new dad and was more so with the addition of a son, Matt, in 1996. Scott was involved with his kids, attending ball games, scout meetings, school, and church events as much as he could. In 2003, Scott was proud to complete his pilot’s license. In recent years, he was an active member of the Barbershop Tumbleweed Chorus and the High Plains Barbershop Chorus.

After his family, the church was his passion. Scott was a member of Colby United Methodist Church and became a Lay Leader, holding that position for several years. He then became a Lay Speaker, filling in for absent pastors both in his home church and others. He conducted several memorial services for family friends and was honored to officiate at his son’s wedding last June. Scott helped set up the Colby UMC live radio broadcast that has run for over twenty years, and he continued as a sound technician as often as he could. He helped with different mission projects, helping with Habitat for Humanity in Cheyenne, WY, Great Plains Camps, local missions, and church maintenance projects. Most recently, Scott was Hays District Director of Lay Servant Ministries and on the Great Plains Conference Board of Trustees, both of which he enjoyed immensely. Helping others is perhaps what he was most well known for.

Scott retired from American Family after twenty-five years and worked full-time on the rental business. Over the most recent years, he worked to see his dream of building a lake house at Grand Lake in Oklahoma come true, drawing his own house plans, overseeing major construction, and doing the detail work himself. The house was built on the site of an original family property, and Scott worked diligently to retain the sentimental value he and others placed on the original components he was able to incorporate into the design of the house. He spent as much time there as he could and planned to retire there full-time in the future.

Scott was preceded in death by his biological father, J.G. Davis and wife Ellen. Survivors include his wife, Jan (Coffey); daughter Amanda, of Meade, KS; son Matt (Ashley), of Talmage, NE; parents, John and Shirley Barnum, of Colby; brothers Grant (Carol), of Osage Beach, MO, Evan (Regena), of Colby and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends that he loved without ceasing.

Services will be held at the Colby United Methodist Church on Monday, November 22, 2021, at 10:30 am. Visitation will be held at Baalmann Mortuary Sunday, November 21, 2021, from 4-7 pm. Memorials will be given to the CUMC radio ministry and scholarships to the GPC Lay Servant Ministry and can be sent in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com