A WOMAN IN A MAN'S WORLD

Claueda Barks of Jackson receives her diploma from Terry Evans of the Nashville Auction School.

Claueda Barks is a full-fledged colonel in what is truly a man's profession.

She hasn't joined the military. Barks, who owns and operates Rainbow Auction with her husband Bobby, recently graduated from auction school, earning her the name "Colonel," a title traditionally given to auction school graduates. She was the only woman in her graduating class and is among only a handful of certified female auctioneers in the entire state. On the national level, only one of every 100 auctioneers are women.

Although being involved in the auction business is new ground, it isn't Claueda's first taste of the business world. The Barks owned a restaurant previously as well as a fabric shop which Claueda operated until back problems -- the result of a severe childhood case of scoliosis and aggravated by a serious accident -- prompted her to sell the business.

"My brother, Garry Moran, started the auction barn several years ago with two friends and my husband and I would go out there and help just for something to do," she said. "We didn't mean to get in the business but we ended up buying my brother out."

After buying the auction, Barks found herself once again immersed in the business world. Although she left the "calling" -- or the staccato chanting that auctioneers voice to encourage bidding -- to a certified auctioneer hired on for the purpose, she took on many of the behind-the-scenes duties such as placing advertisements, scheduling estate sales and "clerking," or recording bids during those estate sales and during the regular sales conducted two nights per week at the auction barn.

The encouragement of friends and the auctioneer the Barks regularly use at their sales, coupled with growing state regulations regarding the auction industry, prompted Claueda Barks to consider attending an auction school.

"Our auctioneer, who has been with us for about five years had been encouraging me to enroll and I'd mentioned it to my daughter a couple of times," said Barks. "My daughter lives near the Nashville Auction School and she just enrolled me one day and then called and said, 'I've enrolled you for the November session.'"

Barks decision was already made so why not attend, she thought.

"I really needed to know more about the business and that's really the reason I went," laughed Barks. "Missouri is now very lax with their laws concerning the auction business but the state is expected to regulate auctions more and more.

"My husband and I felt like we needed to learn more about the business and I was the most logical person to go so I went," she said.

The Nashville Auction School is one of the nation's most respected. It is located near the home of Barks' daughter and allowed her to stay at her daughter's home and make a 35-minute commute to attend class each day of the two-week, 85 hour session.

"The school was two weeks of jam-packed days of learning," said Barks. "We started at eight in the morning and sometimes we didn't finish until 9 o'clock at night," she said, noting that the 85 hours of class work allowed her to learn a great deal, in spite of her years of auction experience.

"A lot of what I know about the auction business I learned by doing," she noted, "but the auction school focused a lot on the business end of auctions and, of course, that's why I went."

One of the things Barks learned about the auction business is that it's not a woman's business.

"I was in a class of 13 -- 12 gentlemen and myself," she said. "It's definitely a gentleman's business and while they encouraged me, the instructors told me from the start that women don't make it in this business.

"The ratio of women to men in the auction business is one to 100," she said. "Of course having an auction house to come home to is a lot different."

One of the hardest parts of the instruction was the portion devoted to calling, also called chanting.

"That was very hard for me," she laughed. "I have been a clerk for five years and had done the advertising and bidding for the auctions but I had never chanted or been the auctioneer.

"But I thought I could do it," she laughed. "When I got up in front of the class to try, nothing, not a thing, came of my mouth.

"I think the instructors thought I was going to pass out and I thought so, too!"

Now back at home, Colonel Barks is still practicing her chant.

"I get up and chant about once a week," said Barks, "but I'm still very nervous chanting. I think I'm nervous because I don't know how they'll react and I have the fear that everyone at the auction will just get up and leave.

"I notice, though, that I seem to have their attention," she added, explaining that many of those who attend auctions have never seen a female auctioneer. "I think plain and simple people are curious to see how I'll sound."

Barks gets encouragement from what she calls an "extended family" -- the employees of the auction company and the numerous regulars who attend the weekly auctions held at the Rainbow sale barn.

"People are very supportive and tell me I sound fine," she said, still not convinced in her talents. Barks enjoys the auction business, though, and says she'll keep practicing.