Tuesday, October 31, 2023
It’s never easy losing someone – even more so when it’s a lifelong friend. Barry and I met in Grade 10 at York Memorial High School. On the first week of classes, it turned out that he was in all of my classes – including orchestra. We became great friends and over years we have remained so. I’ll save the many stories of the things we got up to – including the foolish ones - for the Celebration of Life but suffice it to say, we always had each other’s back in good times and bad.
When we graduated high school, we both took entry level positions in Canada Packers' finance division. One day Barry let me know that he had decided to go back to school to become a teacher and he encouraged me to join him. That decision changed his life and mine, as we both have spent our careers in education. Barry was an excellent educator and many years later, we had the opportunity to work together supporting First Nation education in Ontario.
Barry enjoyed the complete love and respect of my children, Shannon, Richard & Shane who always referred to him as Uncle Barry. I was Uncle Gerry to Tony, Mike and Rachel. For many years I lived in other parts of Ontario and didn’t see Barry that often – although we always stayed in touch. When my career took me back to Southern Ontario, we bought a cottage together and shared many memories on Fairlane Lake.
I am grateful for the last several years when he made the decision to join me in Sackville, New Brunswick. It was a great decision for both of us and we were inseparable once again. Now that he has passed, there is a part of me that passed with him.
