Alben Barkley II, namesake of former United States Vice President Alben Barkley, died Monday, Jan. 30 at the Western Kentucky Veterans Center at Hanson, Ky.
Barkley, 78, served as Commissioner of Agriculture in Kentucky during the early 1980s and ran an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1983. A sexual harassment scandal ended his political aspirations and he spent the latter years of his life on a farm near Sheridan in rural northwest Crittenden County, tending to livestock and a handful of rental properties he owned and managed.
Barkley's grandfather, who was from Paducah, was a longtime United States Senator, and also served as vice president to Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953. The elder Barkley died in 1956 and is buried at Mount Kenton Cemetery in Paducah.
Gilbert Funeral Home in Marion is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.
