The Barlow boys liked to "frolic," were known to take a little nip, and liked the pretty women.  So says A. C. Smith, who at ninety-one years old still remembers frolicking with Waver, Tom, and Needham in Clinch County, Georgia.  Mr. Smith often accompanied one or more of the Barlow boys when they went to a gathering of young people, where they danced to the music of a fiddler, played games, and tried to impress the girls with their good looks and Barlow charm.

Waver, the oldest of the Barlow boys, served in World War I and tried unsuccessfully to convince his half-brother Newt to join the army also.  Evidently Newt was not as anxious to do his patriotic duty and hid in the woods from Waver.  It is said that the bad feeling between the two was so intense that they both carried guns in case they should need to defend themselves against one another. 

After returning from the war, Waver married Lois James, a pretty school teacher from Atkinson County.  Waver was known as a hard working and aggressive businessman and soon owned part interest in the Homerville Telephone Company.  Mr. Smith remembers watching Waver single-handedly dig holes, set the telephone poles in the ground, and then climb them to string the wire from Homerville to Fargo.  Waver also had the first automobile in Homerville and made extra money by using it as a taxi.  He later became a prominent business man in Coffee County, where he owned thousands of acres of timber and tobacco land.  He also had part interest in the Barlow - Strickland Freezer Locker Plant and the John Deere dealership in Douglas.  He was elected mayor of Douglas, and his picture is displayed in the city hall.

Although Waver and Lois never had children of their own, they raised Lois' niece Ruel James after her mother died.  They were very generous towards their many nieces and nephews and enabled many  of them to attend college who would not have been able to go without the financial assistance of their kind uncle and aunt.