Changes

|death_place=While airborne en route to medical attention in [[Shreveport]], Louisiana​

|death_place=While airborne en route to medical attention in [[Shreveport]], Louisiana​

|resting_place=Episcopal  Church of the Redeemer Cemetery in Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish​

|resting_place=Episcopal  Church of the Redeemer Cemetery in Oak Ridge in Morehouse Parish​

|spouse= Bennie Faye Berry Barham​

|spouse= Bennie Faye Berry Barham​ (deceased)

|children=Ben Edwards Barham, II (deceased)​

|children=Ben Edwards Barham, II (deceased)​

Erle West Barham<br>​

Erle West Barham<br>​

Barham was born to Erle McKoin "Ninety" Barham (1916–1976), a Louisiana native, and the former Rosalie Smith (1913–1999), originally from [[Missouri]]. He graduated in 1955 from Oak Ridge High School and received a bachelor's degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. He subsequently obtained a master's degree in ornithology from the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]] (then Northeast Louisiana State College).<ref name=obit/> In the early 1970s, [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] named Barham to head a [[White House]] conservation initiative.<ref name=farmandfowl/> ​

Barham was born to Erle McKoin "Ninety" Barham (1916–1976), a Louisiana native, and the former Rosalie Smith (1913–1999), originally from [[Missouri]]. He graduated in 1955 from Oak Ridge High School and received a bachelor's degree from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]], where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. He subsequently obtained a master's degree in ornithology from the [[University of Louisiana at Monroe]] (then Northeast Louisiana State College).<ref name=obit/> In the early 1970s, [[U.S. President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] named Barham to head a [[White House]] conservation initiative.<ref name=farmandfowl/> ​

Until his death, Barham was married to the former Bennie Faye Berry (born September 1935). There are three living Barham children. These include youngest son Robert Berry Barham (born October 1971) and his wife, Camille Robichaux Barham, and their children, Graham Edwards Barham, Bailey Anne McKoin Barham, and Robert Collier Barham, and daughter Amy Barham Westbrook and her husband, Scott Hamilton Westbrook (both born January 1962), and their daughters, Margaret Benjamin Westbrook and Anna Claire Swearingen Westbrook.<ref name=benebobit/>​

Until his death, Barham was married to the former Bennie Faye Berry (1935-2021), the 1956 "Miss Bastrop."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obits.theadvocate.com/us/obituaries/theadvocate/name/bennie-barham-obituary?id=32027944|title=Bennie Faye Berry Barham|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate|=

|date=December 29, 2021|accessdate=December 30, 2021}}>/ref> There are three living Barham children. These include youngest son Robert Berry Barham (born October 1971) and his wife, Camille Robichaux Barham, and their children, Graham Edwards Barham, Bailey Anne McKoin Barham, and Robert Collier Barham, and daughter Amy Barham Westbrook and her husband, Scott Hamilton Westbrook (both born January 1962), and their daughters, Margaret Benjamin Westbrook and Anna Claire Swearingen Westbrook.<ref name=benebobit/>​

Another son, Erle West Barham (born 1964), known as West, farms a large area about the family's Ingleside Plantation in Leflore and Carroll counties in [[Mississippi]]. West Barham, as he is known, claims residences in Sidon  and Greenwood, Mississippi. He grows cotton, rice, corn, and soybeans. He is married to the former Trudy Bridges (born 1963), and the couple has two children, Laten Edwards Barham and Nathaniel West Barham. West Barham is also a conservationist who has made a name for himself trying to preserve the habitat and survival of the bobtail quail. He is sometimes called the "quail man." The conservationist thrust of the family was actually set by the senior Erle Barham. There is a wildlife refuge on Barham properties in Morehouse Parish near the parish seat of Bastrop, and the Tensas Wildlife Refuge near Delhi in Richland Parish came to fruition with the help of the senior Barham.<ref name=farmandfowl>{{cite web|url=http://deltafarmpress.com/mag/farming_farming_fowl_go/index.html|title=Farming and fowl can go together|date=January 23, 2004|author=Eva Ann Dorris|publisher=''Delta Farm Press'' (Pontotoc, Mississippi)|accessdate=October 20, 2014; material no longer on-line}}</ref>​

Another son, Erle West Barham (born 1964), known as West, farms a large area about the family's Ingleside Plantation in Leflore and Carroll counties in [[Mississippi]]. West Barham, as he is known, claims residences in Sidon  and Greenwood, Mississippi. He grows cotton, rice, corn, and soybeans. He is married to the former Trudy Bridges (born 1963), and the couple has two children, Laten Edwards Barham and Nathaniel West Barham. West Barham is also a conservationist who has made a name for himself trying to preserve the habitat and survival of the bobtail quail. He is sometimes called the "quail man." The conservationist thrust of the family was actually set by the senior Erle Barham. There is a wildlife refuge on Barham properties in Morehouse Parish near the parish seat of Bastrop, and the Tensas Wildlife Refuge near Delhi in Richland Parish came to fruition with the help of the senior Barham.<ref name=farmandfowl>{{cite web|url=http://deltafarmpress.com/mag/farming_farming_fowl_go/index.html|title=Farming and fowl can go together|date=January 23, 2004|author=Eva Ann Dorris|publisher=''Delta Farm Press'' (Pontotoc, Mississippi)|accessdate=October 20, 2014; material no longer on-line}}</ref>​