HARRISVILLE — Being liked in your hometown is one thing. But when your good deeds earn for you an affectionate nickname, you have officially reached another level.

Bob Barnes is one such resident of Harrisville.

For 14 years, Barnes on weekends stood outside the bank building on Main Street, selling candy bars as a fundraiser.

“They started calling me ‘The Candy Man,’” said Barnes, who has spent the vast majority of his 86 years living in the borough. “Some people don’t even know my actual name.

“I started out giving the money to pay for the Fourth of July fireworks display here in town,” he said. “Later on, I gave money to the Salvation Army and the food cupboard in Slippery Rock.

He said he has sold more than 160,000 candy bars over the years.

“And if the bank was still open, I’d probably still be down there,” he said. “Even now, I’ll be downtown and someone will see me and say, ‘Hey, do you have any candy bars with you?’”

Barnes, who resides in the west end of town, is Harrisville personified, but he has some company in that respect.

His longtime friend, Jim Karns, resides on the east side of the borough. They were both members of Harrisville High School’s Class of 1956. You would be hard-pressed to find two people who know more about the town, which lies in the far northwestern corner of Butler County.

The high school stood where the former Har-Mer Elementary School (now Slippery Rock University’s Harrisville building) now stands on West Prairie Street.

“The elementary school when we were kids was right next to the high school, but they tore it down,” Barnes said. “They missed us so much, they closed the high school two years after we left.”

That’s when Harrisville became part of the Slippery Rock Area School District, but Barnes and Karns have no trouble recalling their days as Harrisville Bulldogs. They recently reminisced while perusing one of their high school yearbooks.

“We both played basketball and baseball,” Barnes said. “Jim was a pitcher and could throw a knuckleball that had a lot of movement on it.”

The baseball team’s schedule was not filled with opponents.

“I remember one year, we played just one game against Victory High School (now part of Franklin School District in Venango County),” Karns said.

Both men have been married for over 60 years. Bob and Linda Barnes have lived together in Harrisville for 61 years, Jim and Irene Karns for 62. Both couples raised a family in the borough.

Barnes worked for two dairy businesses for decades while Karns sold insurance.

Just 40 days separate the friends in age. They recently turned 86 and grew up less than 100 yards from each other. Memory Lane is never far away when these two get together.

“As long as I can remember, we’ve always had a Memorial Day parade here,” said Barnes, who was born in his grandmother's house in Wick, a small hamlet south of Harrisville. His family moved to the borough when he was in grade school. “I remember a few years when it was cold enough that I had to wear a winter coat to the parade.”

Karns recalls indulging in one of the town’s simple pleasures.

“I started mowing my grandmother’s grass here in town, so young that I could barely push the mower,” he said. “She would give me $1, and where do you think I’d run to? The ice cream shop.”

That is Hughes’ Penn Gold Ice Cream on Main Street, which still stands. But most businesses that were around during the two men’s youth no longer exist.

Three gas stations used to dot the intersection of Routes 8 and 58, where Sheetz now stands. Sproul's Feed Mill operated where the fire hall is now. The site of the current Allegheny Health Network office used to be the outfield of a baseball field. A carnival used to visit the town where Willie’s Smokehouse now stands at the intersection of Route 8 and Browntown Road.

“Before they built (Interstates 79 and 80), there was so much more traffic in town,” Barnes said. “Traffic used to back up on Saturdays; cars would park alongside Route 8 because people would stop to get ice cream at Hughes.

“They’ve always had teenagers working there and I remember one of them telling me they once hand-dipped 1,300 cones in one day. That’s a lot of ice cream!”

Aside from physical differences, Harrisville has not been immune to societal changes.

“One thing that still impresses me, when I was a kid, this town had three churches — one Methodist and two Presbyterian,” Karns said. “On the Sabbath, no one mowed a yard, you didn’t hear kids screaming or yelling. It was quiet. If you wanted to buy anything, you better do it on Saturday because nothing was open on Sunday. All three churches held two services on that day.”

Faith has remained a major focus for both men. They’re regular parishioners at Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church north of town, both previously serving there as elders.

Despite the changing times, Barnes has been able to keep things in perspective, with a side of humor to keep the mood light.

“Harrisville is still a nice, small community to raise a family in,” he said. “But I tell people that I don’t have a computer, a cellphone or a credit card and I’m the happiest man in town because nobody’s bugging me.

“Age is only a matter of mind and I’ve been out of my mind for years.”