B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARBARA - All Categories in OGSPI

BARBEAU o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-12 published
'He kept a little flame of geometry alive'
Superstar University of Toronto mathematician considered himself an artist, but his seminal work inevitably found practical applications
By Siobhan ROBERTS Saturday, April 12, 2003 - Page F11
Widely considered the greatest classical geometer of his time and the man who saved his discipline from near extinction, Harold Scott MacDonald COXETER, who died on March 31 at 96, said of himself, with characteristic modesty, "I am like any other artist. It just so happens that what fills my mind is shapes and numbers."
Prof. COXETER's work focused on hyperdimensional shapes, specifically the symmetry of regular figures and polytopes. Polytopes are geometric shapes of any number of dimensions that cannot be constructed in the real world and can be visualized only when the eye of the beholder possesses the necessary insight; they are most often described mathematically and sometimes can be represented with hypnotically intricate fine-line drawings.
"I like things that can be seen," Prof. COXETER once remarked. "You have to imagine a different world where these queer things have some kind of shape."
Known as Donald (shortened from MacDonald,) Prof. COXETER had such a passion for his work and unrivalled elegance in constructing and writing proofs that he motivated countless mathematicians to pick up the antiquated discipline of geometry long after it had been deemed passé.
John Horton CONWAY, the Von Neumann professor of mathematics at Princeton University, never studied under Prof. COXETER, but he considers himself an honorary student because of the COXETERian nature of his work.
"With math, what you're doing is trying to prove something and that can get very complicated and ugly. COXETER always manages to do it clearly and concisely," Prof. CONWAY said. "He kept a little flame of geometry alive by doing such beautiful works himself.
"I'm reminded of a quotation from Walter Pater's book The Renaissance. He was describing art and poetry, but he talks of a small, gem-like flame: 'To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.' "
Prof. COXETER's oeuvre included more than 250 papers and 12 books. His Introduction to Geometry, published in 1961, is now considered a classic -- it is still in print and this year is back on the curriculum at McGill University. His Regular Polytopes is considered by some as the modern-day addendum to Euclid's Elements. In 1957, he published Generators and Relations for Discrete Groups, written jointly with his PhD student and lifelong friend Willy MOSER. It is currently in its seventh edition.
Prof. COXETER's self-image as an artist was validated by his Friendship with and influence on Dutch artist M. C. ESCHER, who, when working on his Circle Limit 3 drawings, used to say, "I'm Coxetering today."
They met at the International Mathematical Congress in Amsterdam in 1954 and then corresponded about their mutual interest in repeating patterns and representations of infinity. In a letter to his son, Mr. ESCHER noted that a diagram sent to him by Prof. COXETER that inspired his Circle Limit 3 prints "gave me quite a shock."
He added that " COXETER's hocus-pocus text is no use to me at all.... I understand nothing, absolutely nothing of it."
While Mr. ESCHER claimed total ignorance of math, Prof. COXETER wrote numerous papers on the Dutchman's "intuitive geometry."
Though Prof. COXETER did geometry for its own sake, his work inevitably found practical application. Buckminster FULLER encountered his work in the construction of his geodesic domes. He later dedicated a book to Prof. COXETER: "By virtue of his extraordinary life's work in mathematics, Prof. COXETER is the geometer of our bestirring twentieth century. [He is] the spontaneously acclaimed terrestrial curator of the historical inventory of the science of pattern analysis."
Prof. COXETER's work with icosohedral symmetries served as a template of sorts in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the Carbon 60 molecule. It has also proved relevant to other specialized areas of science such as telecommunications, data mining, topology and quasi-crystals.
In 1968, Prof. COXETER added to his list of converts an anonymous society of French mathematicians, the Bourbakis, who actively and internationally sought to eradicate classical geometry from the curriculum of math education.
"Death to Triangles, Down with Euclid!" was the Bourbaki war cry. Prof. COXETER's rebuttal: "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But the Bourbakis were sadly mistaken."
One member of the society, Pierre CARTIER, met Prof. COXETER in Montreal and became enamoured of his work. Soon, he had persuaded his fellow Bourbakis to include Prof. COXETER's approach in their annual publication. "An entire volume of Bourbaki was thoroughly inspired by the work of COXETER," said Prof. CARTIER, a professor at Denis Diderot University in Paris.
In the 1968 volume, Prof. COXETER's name was writ large into the lexicon of mathematics with the inauguration of the terms "COXETER number," " COXETER group" and "COXETER graph."
These concepts describe symmetrical properties of shapes in multiple dimensions and helped to bridge the old-fashioned classical geometry with the more au courant and applied algebraic side of the discipline. These concepts continue to pervade geometrical discourse, several decades after being discovered by Prof. COXETER.
Prof. COXETER became a serious mathematician at the relatively late age of 14, though family folklore has it that, as a toddler, he liked to stare at the columns of numbers in the financial pages of his father's newspaper.
He was born into a Quaker family in Kensington, just west of London, on February 9, 1907. His mother, Lucy GEE, was a landscape artist and portrait painter, and his father, Harold, was a manufacturer of surgical instruments, though his great love was sculpting.
They had originally named their son MacDonald Scott COXETER, but a godparent suggested that the boy's father's name should be added at the front. Another relative then pointed out that H.M.S. COXETER made him sound like a ship of the royal fleet so the names were switched around.
When Prof. COXETER was 12, he created his own language -- "Amellaibian" a cross between Latin and French, and filled a 126-page notebook with information on the imaginary world where it was spoken.
But more than anything he fancied himself a composer, writing several piano concertos, a string quartet and a fugue. His mother took her son and his musical compositions to Gustav HOLST. His advice: "Educate him first."
He was then sent to boarding school, where he met John Flinders PETRIE, son of Egyptologist Sir Flinders PETRIE. The two were passing time at the infirmary contemplating why there were only five Platonic solids -- the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron. They then began visualizing what these shapes might look like in the fourth dimension. At the age of 15, Prof. COXETER won a school prize for an English essay on how to project these geometric shapes into higher dimensions -- he called it "Dimensional Analogy."
Prof. COXETER's father took his son along with his essay to meet friend and fellow pacifist Bertrand RUSSELL. Mr. RUSSELL recommended Prof. COXETER to mathematician E.H. NEVILLE, a scout, of sorts, for mathematics prodigies. He was impressed by Prof. COXETER's work but appalled by some inexcusable gaps in his mathematical knowledge. Prof. NEVILLE arranged for private tutelage in pursuit of a scholarship at Cambridge. During this period, Prof. COXETER was forbidden from thinking in the fourth dimension, except on Sundays.
He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1926 and was among five students handpicked by Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN for his philosophy of mathematics class. During his first year at Cambridge, at the age of 19, he discovered a new regular polyhedron that had six hexagonal faces at each vertex.
After graduating with first-class honours in 1929, he received his doctorate under H. F. BAKER in 1931, winning the coveted Smith's Prize for his thesis.
Prof. COXETER did fellowship stints back and forth between Princeton and Cambridge for the next few years, focusing on the mathematics of kaleidoscopes -- he had mirrors specially cut and hinged together and carried them in velvet pouches sewn by his mother. By 1933, he had enumerated the n-dimensional kaleidoscopes -- that is, kaleidoscopes operating up to any number of dimensions.
The concepts that became known as COXETER groups are the complex algebraic equations he developed to express how many images may be seen of any object in a kaleidoscope (he once used a paper triangle with the word "nonsense" printed on it to track reflections).
In 1936, Prof. COXETER was offered an assistant professorship at the University of Toronto. He made the move shortly after the sudden death of his father and following his marriage to Rien BROUWER. She was from the Netherlnds and he met her while she was on holiday in London.
As a professor, Prof. COXETER was known to flout set curriculum. Ed BARBEAU, now a professor at the U of T, recalled that at the start of his classes, Prof. COXETER would spread out a manuscript on the desks at the front of the room. During his lecture, he would often pause for minutes at a time to make notes when a student offered something that might be relevant to his work in progress. When the work was later published, students were pleasantly surprised to find that their suggestions had been duly credited.
Prof. COXETER was also known to show up to class carrying a pineapple, or a giant sunflower from his garden, demonstrating the existence of geometric principles in nature. And he was notorious for leaping over details, expecting students to fill in the rest.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's resident intellectual, Lister SINCLAIR, was one of Prof. COXETER's earliest students. He once recounted that Prof. COXETER would "write an expression on the board and you could see it talking to him. It was like Michelangelo walking around a block of marble and seeing what's in there."
Asia Ivic WEISS, a professor at York University, Prof. COXETER's last PhD student and the only woman so honoured, describes an incident that perfectly exemplifies Prof. COXETER's math myopia. Going into labour with her first child, she called him to cancel their weekly meeting. Prof. COXETER, who never acknowledged her pregnancy, said not to worry, he would send over a stack of research to keep her busy when she got home from the hospital.
Despite several offers from other universities, Prof. COXETER stayed at University of Toronto throughout his career.
Like his father, he was a pacifist. In 1997, he was among those who marched a petition to the university president's office to protest against an honorary degree being conferred on George BUSH Sr. Prof. COXETER recalled with disdain Robert PRITCHARD's telling him, "Donald, I have more important things to worry about."
After his official retirement in 1977, Prof. COXETER continued as a professor emeritus, making weekly visits to his office. These subsided only in the past several months. On the weekend before his death, he finished revisions on his final paper, which he had delivered the previous summer in Budapest.
In his last five years, he survived a heart attack, a broken hip (he sprung himself from the hospital early to drive to a geometry conference in Wisconsin) and, most recently, prostate cancer.
Considering his 96 years of vegetarianism and a strict exercise regime, he felt betrayed by his body. "I feel like the man of Thermopylae who doesn't do anything properly," he commented recently after an awkward evening out, quoting nonsense poet Edward LEAR.
Prof. COXETER died in his home, with three long last breaths, just before bed on the last day of March.
His brain is now undergoing study at McMaster University, along with that of Albert EINSTEIN. Neuroscientist Sandra WITELSON is tryng to determine whether his brain's extraordinary capacities are associated with its structure.
Prof. COXETER met with her at the beginning of March and learned that the atypical elements of Einstein's brain, compared with an average brain, were symmetrical on both right and left sides.
Prof. WITELSON said she wondered whether there might be similar findings with Prof. COXETER's brain. "Isn't that nice," he said. "I suppose that would indicate all my interest in symmetry was well founded."
Prof. COXETER leaves his daughter Susan and son Edgar. His wife died in 1999.
Siobhan ROBERTS is a Toronto writer whose biography of Donald COXETER will be published by Penguin in 2005.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARBEAU - All Categories in OGSPI

BARBER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-09 published
GILL, Martha Elizabeth (née BARBER)
Formerly of Montreal and King City, Ontario, died peacefully at The Maple Health Centre, on December 7, 2003. Beloved wife of the late Frederick P. (Perc). She will be missed by her many Friends, especially Cathy Goodier POTE and Sally O'Neill LEWIS. Cremation has taken place. Interment in Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Quebec. If desired, memorial donations to the Ontario Humane Society would be appreciated. A celebration of Martha's life will be held at a later date.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARBER - All Categories in OGSPI

BARBUTO o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-06 published
Linda STEARNS: 1937-2003
As ballet mistress and artistic director of the esteemed Montreal company, she nurtured personality, flair and a risk-taking approach to dance
By Paula CITRON Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - Page R5
In the cutthroat, competitive world of dance, Linda STEARNS was an anomaly. As artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, she never played games or held grudges. Whether good or bad news, she bluntly told her dancers what they had to hear, and in return, her open-door policy allowed them to vent their own feelings. National Ballet of Canada artistic director James KUDELKA, who spent almost a decade as a member of Les Grands Ballets, likens her approach to wearing an invisible raincoat upon which unhappy dancers spewed their venom. At the end of their tirades, she would serenely remove the garment and say, "Now let's talk."
Linda STEARNS died at her home in Toronto on July 4, at age 65.
She was born into privilege on October 22, 1937. Her father, Marshal, was an investment broker; her mother, Helen, was heavily involved in charity work. The family lived in the posh Poplar Plains area of central Toronto, where Ms. STEARNS attended Branksome Hall.
Despite their wealth, the STEARNS children (Linda, Nora and Marshal) were expected to earn their own livings. Helen STEARNS had studied dance in her youth, but a career was never an option. When eldest daughter Linda showed a strong talent, history might have repeated itself had not Marshal Sr. set aside his reservations after seeing his daughter perform.
After graduating from high school, Ms. STEARNS went to London and New York for advanced training. It was the great Alexandra Danilova, one of Ms. STEARNS's New York teachers, who pointed the young dancer in the direction of the upstart Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Ms. STEARNS joined Les Grands in 1961, and was promoted to soloist in 1964. In a Who's Who of Entertainment entry, Ms. STEARNS was once listed as joining the company in 1861, and she liked to joke that, at 103 years, she held the record for the longest time spent in the corps de ballet. In fact, one of Ms. STEARNS's hallmarks was her sense of humour, much of it at her own expense.
Les Grands was known for taking dancers who did not necessarily have perfect ballet bodies, but had personality and flair, a policy Ms. STEARNS continued during her own administration.
Although Ms. STEARNS had very unballetic, low-arched feet, she was a fine classical dancer. She excelled, however, in the dramatic repertoire: Mother Courage in Richard Kuch's The Brood, or the title role in Brydon Paige's Medea. In later years, while teaching and coaching, Ms. STEARNS wore high heels to conceal her hated low arches -- while showing off her attractive ankles.
Her performing career was cut short in 1966 when artistic director Ludmilla CHIRIAEFF recognized that Ms. STEARNS would make a brilliant ballet mistress, and by 1969, Ms. STEARNS was exclusively in the studio. In fact, giving up performing was one of the great disappointments of her life, although she did in time acknowledge that she had found her true destiny. Ms. STEARNS's astonishingly keen eye allowed her to single out, in a corps de ballet of moving bodies, every limb that was out of position. She could also sing every piece of music, which saved a lot of time, because she didn't have to keep putting on the tape recorder. Because of her intense musicality, Ms. STEARNS also insisted that the dancers not just be on the count, but fill every note with movement.
Ms. STEARNS loved playing with words -- she was a crossword-puzzle addict, for example -- and gave the dancers nicknames, whether they liked them or not. Catherine LAFORTUNE was Katrink, Kathy BIEVER was Little Frog, Rosemary NEVILLE was Rosie Posie, Betsy BARON was Boops, and Benjamin HATCHER was Benjamino, to name but a few. One who escaped this fate was Gioconda BARBUTO, simply because Ms. STEARNS loved rolling out the word "G-I-O-C-O-N-D-A" in its full Italian glory. The dancers, in turn, called her Lulubelle, Mme. Gozonga and La Stearnova or, if they were feeling tired, cranky and hostile -- and were out of earshot -- Spoons (for her non-arched feet) and even less flattering names. As reluctantly as she became ballet mistress, Ms. STEARNS became artistic director, first as one of a triumvirate in 1978 with Danny JACKSON and Colin McINTYRE (when Les Grands and Brian MacDONALD came to an abrupt parting of the ways;) then with Jeanne RENAUD in 1985 and finally on her own in 1987. She retired from Les Grands in 1989. Both Mr. JACKSON and Mr. McINTRYE still refer to Ms. STEARNS as the company's backbone.
These were the famous creative years that included the works of Mr. KUDELKA, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Nacho Duato and George Balanchine. Les Grands toured the world performing one of the most exciting and eclectic repertoires in ballet. It was a company that nurtured dancers and choreographers, many of whom reflected Ms. STEARNS's risk-taking, innovative esthetic.
She also had time to mentor choreographers outside the company, including acclaimed solo artist Margie GILLIS. Her post-Grands career included writing assessments for the Canada Council, setting works on ballet companies, coaching figure skating, and most recently, becoming ballet mistress for the Toronto-based Ballet Jörgen. When she was diagnosed with both ovarian and breast cancer two years ago, she continued her obligations to Ballet Jörgen until she was no longer able, never letting the dancers know how ill she was.
Ms. STEARNS loved huge dogs -- or what Ms. GILLIS refers to as mountains with fur -- and always had at least two. Her gardens were magnificent, as was her cooking. Her generosity was legendary, whether inviting 20 people for Christmas dinner, or hosting the wedding reception for dancers Andrea BOARDMAN and Jean-Hugues ROCHETTE at her tastefully decorated Westmount home. After leaving Montreal, whether, first, at her horse farm in Harrow, Ontario, or at the one-room schoolhouse she lovingly renovated near Campbellville, northwest of Toronto, former colleagues were always welcome.
She continued to keep in touch with her dancers, sending notes in her beautiful, distinctive handwriting. Her love of sports never left her, and after a hard day in the studio, she would relax watching the hockey game. Religion also filled her postdance life, with Toronto's Anglican Grace-Church-on-the-Hill at its epicentre. Ms. STEARNS was very discreet in her private life, although another disappointment is that neither of two long relationships resulted in marriage or children.
Ms. STEARNS was always ruthlessly self-critical, always striving for perfection, never convinced she had rehearsed a work to its full potential. As a result, she never made herself the centre of her own story. Her homes, for example, did not contain photographs glorifying the career of Linda STEARNS. Only at the end of her days, as she faced death with the same grace with which she had faced life, was she finally able to appreciate how many lives she had touched, and accept her outstanding achievements with Les Grands Ballets. Linde HOWE- BECK, former dance critic for the Montreal Gazette, sums up Ms. STEARNS perfectly when she says that she was all about love -- for her Friends and family, for life, but most of all, for dance.
Paula CITRON is dance critic for The Globe and Mail.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARBUTO - All Categories in OGSPI

BARDAL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-04 published
HUSFLOEN, Richard Lowell
The 12th President of Augustana University College in Camrose Alberta, died quite suddenly on Sunday, September 28th, 2003. He was in Sun City, Arizona at the time of his death, preparing for back surgery. He had served as President of Augustana for seven years before retiring this past June. He had been named President Emeritus by the Augustana board. HUSFLOEN was born on August 5, 1937 in Fargo, North Dakota, the second son of Joe and Clara Alfreida (SIMONSON) HUSFLOEN. He grew up on the Midwestern prairies and the love of this landscape never left him. A photographer (in recent years a hobby, though he had at one time worked professionally) at heart he used the North Dakota prairies as a backdrop for the film, Diane, he and a friend shot and produced in the 1960's. HUSFLOEN's knowledge and interest in film was later used in the production of the film, The Joy of Bach, for Lutheran Film Associates, New York City, on whose board he sat for nine years. Richard HUSFLOEN is survived by his brother, James C. HUSFLOEN, of Fargo, North Dakota. By academic background, HUSFLOEN was both a sociologist and a theologian. His undergraduate degree was from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota (1960) where he returned to teach sociology after finishing his graduate studies. His Master of Divinity was earned at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota (1963) and his Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey (1964). He had a special interest in small town and rural communities and traveled widely in the 1960's holding seminars on Rural Ministry for the American Lutheran Church. President HUSFLOEN worked his way through university as an employee of Capital Airlines and United Airlines. He had his own private pilot's license, honed by years of managing to get invited into the cockpits of airliners before airline security made that no longer possible. In recent years, his love of flying with commercial airlines led him to circumnavigate the globe many times as well as making hundreds of trips to Europe, Africa, and recently Australia. This interest led him and a friend, Neil BARDAL of Winnipeg, to establish and run a small travel business as a sideline in the 1980's. HUSFLOEN was ordained by the American Lutheran Church in 1969, serving parishes that ranged in size from Mott, North Dakota to Sherwood Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He served as administrative assistant to the American Lutheran Church District bishops in both Western North Dakota and South-eastern Minnesota. He specialized in the area of stewardship, later moving into more direct hands-on work in resource development, both for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and later in educational institutions: first at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and then at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, affiliated with Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. In 1996, he became president of Augustana University College in Camrose, a small college of 1000 students owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and affiliated with the University of Alberta. HUSFLOEN's development skills came into play, raising money to reduce a $5,000,000 accumulated deficit by almost half and balancing the annual budget each of the last five years. Convinced that a small private college would never be able to obtain the kind of funding to enable it to continue as a top-flight school, he and the Augustana board worked to enable the school to become part of the University of Alberta educational system. In June of this year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada voted to convey the college to the Government of Alberta and the University of Alberta. The negotiations for implementing that decision are still on-going. President HUSFLOEN was convinced that it was important for the college to give something back to the community, both the community in which the college was located as well as the communities from which its students came: 'Knowing that our primary serving area is rural and adjacent to our campus, it is important for us to acknowledge that we owe something to the communities from which our students come. For a long time schools such as Augustana have taken young people from small rural communities and educated them for careers that will not return them to these communities. While this has been an endeavor of willing participants, I think it is important for us to assume an obligation of care and concern for the communities from which our students derive'. During his time at Augustana, HUSFLOEN put strong emphasis on continuing education opportunities for both graduates and members of the community. In 1999, the college acquired the former TransAlta Utilities building in Camrose and turned it into a Centre of Community Education as well as space for classrooms and offices. That year the Centre opened its first distance education program with a full house of 38 paramedic students from small towns in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The program used the internet, print curricula, electronic media and face-to-face teaching to deliver course content. HUSFLOEN found great satisfaction with a Working Families Scholarship program that was established by an anonymous donor in 1998. Working parents could receive support for tuition and living expenses for up to two years of study. President HUSFLOEN was always proud of his Norwegian heritage. He often visited with Friends and relatives in Norway and brought important Scandinavian figures to Augustana to enhance its Norwegian tradition. By appointment of the Norwegian Government, President HUSFLOEN served as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Norwegian Research and Technology Forum in the United States and Canada, the only member of the committee from Canada. This past May, HUSFLOEN was honoured with the degree Doctor of Divinity (h.c.) by the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In August, Augustana College named the TransAlta building The Richard Husfloen Centre. HUSFLOEN was a hard worker who never walked away from a difficult situation. He sometimes ruffled feathers but in the end most people came to realize that his positions were always well thought through and had the best interests of others at the core. His former pastor, the Reverend Dr. Gordon JENSEN, once said, 'He has often placed himself on the margins of the church, and has called for the church to face issues and realities that the church has often not wanted to face. Yet, this has been one of the great gifts he brings to the church.' The church, the educational world and all who knew him are diminished by his death. Services to celebrate Richard's life will be held in Camrose, Alberta on Thursday, October 9 at 7: 30 p.m. in the Faith and Life Centre, Augustana University College Campus and in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Tuesday, October 28, 7: 30 p.m., Sherwood Park Lutheran Church, 7 Tudor Crescent at London Street. Donations in Richard's memory may be made to Augsburg College, 2211 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55454. Friends and colleagues may send messages of condolence or reminiscences to condolences@nbardal.mb.ca. For updates to other services being held, please go to nbardal.mb.ca and follow the links to Obituaries. Neil BARDAL (204) 949-2200

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARDAL - All Categories in OGSPI

BAREFOOT o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-01-22 published
John OBIMWAIWAI-- CURRIE BAREFOOT
March 8, 1919 to January 14, 2003. He passed away peacefully on Tuesday at 10: 30 am at the Espanola General Hospital. Beloved husband of the late Elizabeth KING also predeceased by parents Bill BAREFOOT and Maggie KAY as well as all his brothers and sisters. Beloved father of Leon (friend Jennifer) of Whitefish Falls, Leslie (wife Marge) of Birch Island, Emily, Ashlie, Marilyn, all of Toronto, Margo (step daughter) of Orillia. Ex-wife Violet of Toronto. He will be sadly missed by grandchildren, nephews, nieces and many close Friends. He enjoyed his hobbies like fishing, hunting, and many other sports. Visitation was held on Wednesday until the funeral service on Friday, January 17, 2003 all at Birch Island Community Complex. Burial in Birch Island Cemetery, Arrangements in care of Island Funeral Home.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BAREFOOT - All Categories in OGSPI

BARKER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-08-19 published
LEWIS, Paul
Paul Lewis, age 90, died suddenly on Saturday, August 16, 2003 in Pembroke, Ontario. Beloved husband of Sarah Boone LEWIS (nee SMITH) and devoted father to Christine LEWIS (Gary CHANG;) Marion LEWIS (Billie BROCK;) Alan LEWIS (Kerry CALVERT.) Grandfather to Georgia BARKER, Robert CHANG and Ray LEWIS. Predeceased by sister Mary THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON. Brother-in-law to Davis (Catherine) SMITH of Sarnia Ontario; uncle to Ian THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON, the late Scott SMITH, and Grant, Sally Ross SMITH and Price SMITH. Paul was born in Toronto to Marion and Thomas LEWIS. He lived a full and varied life working as a chemical engineer on three continents. Raising his family in Deep River, Ontario, he retired from the Atomic Energy of Canada to Beachburg, Ontario where he continued his interest in gardening and his love of nature. A reception to celebrate his life for family and Friends will be held at Supples Landing Retirement Home in Pembroke on Friday August 22 at 2: 00. In lieu of flowers, a donation to your favourite charity would be appreciated.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARKER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-11 published
The crash of a Canadian hero
Lest we forget, Roy MacGREGOR traces the spectacular feats and the sad fall of a flying ace
By Roy MacGREGOR, Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - Page A1
Ottawa -- Here is as good a place as any to lay a small poppy on Remembrance Day.
It is nothing but a concrete dock ramp on the Ontario shore of the Ottawa River, not far downstream from the Parliament Buildings.
There is nothing here to say what happened that cold March day back in 1930, and on this, a fine brisk morning in November, 73 years later, there is only a lone biker, a man walking two setters along the path that twists along this quiet spot, and a small, single-engine airplane revving in the background as it prepares to take off from the little Rockcliffe airstrip.
Seventy-three years ago, another small plane took off from this airfield, turned sharply over the distant trees, flew low and full-throttle over the runway and went into a steep climb that eventually cut out the engine and sent the new Fairchild twisting toward this spot -- instantly killing Canada's most-decorated war hero.
Will BARKER, 35, of Dauphin, Manitoba
Perhaps you've heard of him. Likely not. He is, in some ways, the test case for Lest We Forget.
Lieutenant-Colonel William George BARKER won the Victoria Cross for what many believe was the greatest dogfight of the First World War.
He was alone in his Sopwith Snipe over Bois de Marmal, France, on October 27, 1918, when he was attacked, official reports say, by 60 enemy aircraft -- Mr. BARKER, who rarely talked of his war experience, always said 15 -- and he shot down three before passing out from devastating wounds to both legs and his arm, only to come to again in mid-air, turn on the fighter intending to put an end to him and bring down a fourth before he himself crash-landed in full view of astonished British troops, who were even more amazed when they got to the plane and found him still alive, if barely.
The four that one day took Mr. BARKER's list to 50 downed aircraft. He returned to Canada as Lt.-Col. William George BARKER, V.C., D.S.O. and enough other medals to lay claim to being Canada's most honoured combatant -- if he'd ever cared to do so. As British Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip JOUBERT wrote, "Of all the flyers of the two World Wars, none was greater than BARKER."
He came home and went into the aviation business with another Canadian Victoria Cross winner, Billy BISHOP. He married Mr. BISHOP's wealthy cousin, Jean SMITH, and had a miserable next dozen years. The business failed, the marriage teetered, he suffered depression and terrible pain from his injuries, and the previous non-drinker soon became a drinker.
It seemed life was taking a turn for the better in January of 1930 when Fairchild hired him to help sell planes to the Canadian government. A test pilot had been sent to show off the plane at Rockcliffe, but the veteran fighter unfortunately insisted on taking it up himself for a run.
Some say he committed suicide here; some say he was showing off for an 18-year-old daughter of another Rockcliffe pilot; his biographer believes he was just being too aggressive with a new, unknown machine and "screwed up."
They held the funeral in Toronto, with a cortege two miles long, 2,000 uniformed men, honour guards from four countries and 50,000 people lining the streets. As they carried the coffin into Mount Pleasant Cemetery, six biplanes swooped down, sprinkling rose petals over the crowd.
"His name," Sir Arthur CURRIE announced, "will live forever in the annals of the country which he served so nobly."
His name, alas, is not even on the crypt -- only " SMITH," his wife's snobbish family who never really accepted the rough-hewn outsider from Manitoba.
Somehow, he became all but forgotten. Though Mr. BISHOP called Mr. BARKER "the deadliest air fighter that ever lived," it is Mr. BISHOP who lives on in the public imagination. Often, if Mr. BARKER is mentioned at all, "Billy" BARKER, as he was known to his air colleagues, is confused with "Billy" BISHOP.
A request for a government plaque to commemorate his Manitoba birthplace was rejected the first time, but there is now some small recognition thanks in large part to the work of Inky MARK, the Member of Parliament for Dauphin-Swan Lake and the excellent military biography, BARKER VC, produced a few years back by Wayne RALPH.
Mr. RALPH, a Newfoundlander now living in White Rock, British Columbia, thinks Mr. BARKER was simply too much "the warrior" for the Canadian appetite.
"He was an international superstar," says Mr. RALPH. " BARKER had all the traits of the great Hollywood heroes. He was disobedient, gregarious, flamboyant. He was a frontier kid, a classical figure in the American style of hero. Born in a log cabin, went on to fame and fortune, and died tragically at 35.
"Now he is basically buried in anonymity. To me, it's the perfect metaphor for Canada, where we bury our past."
Today, though, even if it is only a poppy dropped at the end of a concrete boat ramp, we will remember.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARKER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-11-29 published
BARKER, Paul and BARKER, Helen (née GEGG)
Paul BARKER died in Ottawa on Thursday Auguust 14, 2003 and Helen BARKER (née GEGG) died in Ottawa on Tuesday November 18, 2003 both formerly of Geraldton, Ontario. Loving parents of Liz BARKER and her husband Mark SLATER. Cherished grandparents of Darcie and Quinn SLATER. Paul is survived by a sister Kathleen MIKKONEN and her husband Raimo of Kapuskasing, Ontario and was predeceased by his parents Cyril and Mary (née MOYNA) and a brother John and a sister Patricia. Helen is survived by sisters Elizabeth YULE and her husband Don of Owen Sound, Ontario and Nina NIX and her husband El of Gravenhurst, Ontario and was predeceased by her parents Richard and Beatrice (née MICHAELSON) GEGG. Paul and Helen will also be missed by their niece, nephews and Friends. Funeral arrangements were completed by the Kelly Funeral Home 2313 Carling Ave. Ottawa. In Memoriam donations to The Hospice At Maycourt, 114 Cameron St. Ottawa, Ontario K1S 0X1 appreciated.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARKER - All Categories in OGSPI

BARKLEY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-21 published
The soul of Canadian basketball
The coach who led national teams to Olympics, world championships, was a well-loved motivator on and off the court
By James CHRISTIE Monday, April 21, 2003 - Page R5
Jack DONOHUE knew how to win. His underdog Canadian basketball teams won games against National Basketball Association-bound superstars -- and Mr. DONOHUE won every heart he touched.
The former national basketball coach and famed motivator was arguably the most beloved figure in Canadian amateur and Olympic sport. Mr. DONOHUE died Wednesday in Ottawa after a battle with cancer. He was 71.
With his trademark New York Irish accent and gift for telling inspirational and humorous stories, Mr. DONOHUE was the soul of basketball in Canada for almost two decades and led the national team to three Olympic Games and three world championship tournaments.
His great players included a high schooler in New York named Lew ALCINDOR (later Kareem ABDUL- JABBAR;) Canadian centres Bill WENNINGTON and Mike SMREK, who went on to get National Basketball Association championship rings with Chicago and Los Angeles respectively Leo RAUTINS, a first-round draft pick of Philadelphia 76ers in 1983; guards Eli PASQUALE and Jay TRIANO, who is now assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors.
"For all he's done for basketball in this country -- not just with the national team, but with clinics and all his public speaking he should get the Order of Canada," Mr. TRIANO said.
Under Mr. DONOHUE, Canadian teams stayed among the top six in the world for 18 years. Canada finished fourth at the 1976 Montreal and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and claimed gold at the 1983 World University Games in Edmonton. In the process they beat a team of U.S. college talents that included future National Basketball Association stars Charles BARKLEY, Karl MALONE, Kevin WILLIS, Ed PINCKNEY and Johnny DAWKINS. The monumental win over the United States came in the semi-final. The gold medal match was just as much a stunner, as Canada beat a Yugoslavian team built with members of the world championship squad.
Globe and Mail columnist Trent FRAYNE recorded how the loquacious Mr. DONOHUE had steered the Canucks to the improbable triumph, making them believe in themselves:
"You've got to appreciate how much talent you have," Jack would say, hunkering down beside a centre or a guard or, every now and then, an unwary newshound (Jack is ready for anybody). "You are unique. Think about that: there's nobody else in the world like you. If you want to be happy, try to make other people happy. Hey, if you want to be loved, you must love others. The way to improve is to do something you have never done. Don't be afraid of your emotions. Let 'em all hang out. Emotions are your generator. The intellect is the governor...."
And now, in the seventh month of July, it has all come about just as Jack promised. On Saturday night in Edmonton, his players, Jack's Guys, hoisted him upon their shoulders, and, for once, Jack's jaw was still. Blue eyes blinking rapidly behind silver-rimmed spectacles, white hair tousled, Jack put the scissors to that final strand and held the net aloft.
Coaching was a passion, not so much for the trophies, but for the human victories, personal challenges and little triumphs.
"I remember my father coming home tired and dirty every night. That's not for me. I love what I'm doing, so it doesn't seem like work and never will," he said.
Since retiring as national coach in 1988, Mr. DONOHUE has been the darling of the motivational speakers' circuit. In that regard, Mr. DONOHUE never quit being The Coach. He urged captains of industry to get the most out of themselves and build teamwork among employees as he did his players.
Often, Mr. DONOHUE told them to find opportunity even in the midst of problems: "It's all a matter of attitude. A guy leaves the house wearing his new, expensive suit for the first time, trips and falls in a puddle. He can get up and curse; or he can get up and check his pockets to see if he caught any fish, " he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail before the Los Angeles Olympics.
Mr. DONOHUE, who was born June 4, 1931, received a bachelor's degree in economics at New York's Fordham University and a master of arts in health education before serving with the U.S. Army in the Korean War. He began teaching in American high schools in 1954 and eventually wound up at New York's Power Memorial Academy, where he coached Mr. ABDUL- JABBAR and amassed a 163-30 record.
He later moved up to Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts., before taking the reins of the Canadian program -- at first coaching both the men's and women's teams. Mr. DONOHUE was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. He is also in the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, and was awarded a Canada 125 medal by the Governor-General.
When the National Basketball Association expanded north into Canada in 1995, Mr. DONOHUE became director of international public relations and director of Canadian player development for the Vancouver Grizzlies.
One of Mr. DONOHUE's proudest times in basketball came when Mr. TRIANO followed in his path as a national coach. At the 2000 Olympics, Canada -- with Steve NASH and Todd MacCULLOCH -- finished with a 5-2 record, defeating mighty Yugoslavia once again, as it had in 1983.
"We talked about everything from how to guard guys on the perimeter to dying. I think he's at peace with it," Mr. TRIANO said of his mentor at a recent Raptor practice.
"He taught with humour," Mr. TRIANO said of Mr. DONOHUE's coaching style. "We learned a lot because we were laughing all the time."
A colourful broadcaster, naming names -- at least pronouncing them correctly -- wasn't one of Mr. DONOHUE's many strengths. He didn't earn the nickname "Jack Dontknowho" for no reason, Mr. TRIANO said. "It was always, 'that guy,' or 'you over there,'" he said. "I've seen him struggle to introduce his kids because he couldn't remember their names. He always told me he liked doing colour for the European teams, because no one knew if he wasn't saying their names right."
He travelled the world, but the dearest sight for Mr. DONOHUE was always his own front door, in Kanata, Ontario, where he spent his last days. Behind that door were wife Mary Jane, his six kids and his grandchildren.
"We're asking you to hug your families, extra special, and we're asking you to enjoy life, because we sure did and we still are," Mary Jane DONOHUE said this week.
Somewhere, the busy coach found time for all he needed to do. He used to keep a block on his desk reminding him that there are 86,400 seconds in a day, time enough if he organized himself. Family was a priority. At least five minutes of Mr. DONOHUE's day had to be reserved for hugging his kids. He was a believer in family and in human contact. In his coaching years, when he returned from a road journey, there would be a lineup awaiting him at home, the kids taking their turns to make up for the lost minutes of hugging during his absence.
"I met him at a dance he didn't go to," Mary Jane DONOHUE said in the pre-Los Angeles Games article. "My girlfriend and I went and he had several Friends who were very up on it. But Jack said he'd rather go to a movie and would meet them later. He came through the door as my girlfriend and I were walking out.
"He asked why we were leaving so soon, and said there were two gentlemen he wanted us to meet. He introduced my friend to one of his, then I asked who the other gentleman was supposed to be. Guess who?"
Mary Jane DONOHUE felt trust instantly. "I could have gone across the country with him that night and felt safe. If he's for you, he's for you all the way."

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARKLEY - All Categories in OGSPI

BARLOW o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-10-29 published
Olive Lenora (née PATTISON) LOVE
Passed away peacefully at The Westmount, Kitchener on Thursday, October 23, 2003 at the age of 88 years.
Beloved wife of the late Everett LOVE who predeceased her on September 4, 1989.
She will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Marguerite (Roy) and son James (Jan) and by her grandchildren Melanie (Mark), Scot (Heather), Rosemary, David, Kathy, Michael and Sherri (Dave) and by her ten great-grandchildren.
Dear sister of Muriel BLUE of Providence Bay, Winfred McALLISTER (Calvin) of Azilda and Everett of Providence Bay, dear sister-in-law of Bessie BARLOW of Sunderland and Mary LOVE of Mindemoya.
Predeceased by her parents, Evelyn and Delbert PATTISON, by siblings, Evangeline, Alvin, William, by brother-in-law D. A. BLUE and Harold GASTON. She is survived by many nieces and nephews.
Friends were invited to share memories of Olive with her family at the Edward R. Good Funeral Home, 171 King St. S., Waterloo on Sunday, October 26 from 2 - 4 pm. The funeral service was held in The Funeral Home Chapel on Monday,
October 27, 2003 at 11 am with the Reverend Richard KOPANKE officiating.
Heartfelt thanks to the nurses and staff at the Westmount who so lovingly cared for Olive since January of 2003. A special thank you to her family doctor for many years, Dr. Doris WINFIELD and to Dr. KUGLER, her doctor for the past several months.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARLOW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-09-27 published
COONEY, Roger Peter Patrick
Died suddenly of a massive and final heart attack in the arms of Elizabeth, his devoted wife of thirty years. Roger resided in St. Andrews, New Brunswick for the past 10 years. Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he was the son of the late William and Veronica (FARCAS) COONEY. Predeceased by brothers, James and Bernard; sisters, Helen COONEY and Jeannette BARLOW. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth (DICKSON/DIXON) COONEY; daughter, Kathleen sons, William and D'Arcy all at home; sister, Ruth CAVERLEY (William) of Don Mills; brothers, John COONEY (Brenda) of Markham, Gregory COONEY (Eva) of Oakville; nieces and nephews, John, Patricia, Theresa, Margot, Peter, Veronica, Marlene, Paul, Shannon, Erinn, Clifford, Karen, Steven and Renee; mother-in-law Peggy DICKSON/DIXON of St. Andrews; brother-in-law, James DICKSON/DIXON of St. Andrews. Resting at the St. Andrews Catholic Church, with visiting on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9. The funeral will be held 12 noon on Tuesday from the church, with Reverend Bill BRENNAN officiating. Interment will take place at the St. Andrews Catholic Cemetery. For those who wish, donations to a charity of the donors choice would be appreciated. MacDonald Select Community Funeral Home, 20 Marks Street, St. Stephen, New Brunswick in care of arrangements. www.macdonaldfh.com

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARLOW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-02 published
Jean Watson VERNON
By Kate BARLOW Thursday, October 2, 2003 - Page A26
Singer, teacher. Born April 23, 1909, in Scotland. Died August 12 in Oakville, Ontario, of natural causes, aged 94.
Coloratura contralto Jean WATSON sang in each province in Canada and every state of the Union during the Second World War, taking her magnificent three-octave voice to the war weary. This Canadian singer was the first "British" singer to be invited to sing at the great Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, Germany, after that war.
She performed with the great conductors of the age -- Bruno Walter, Eugene Ormandy and Serge Koussevitsky -- always to sensational reviews. She sang more than a dozen concerts in Carnegie Hall represented Canada in the elite choir assembled for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in Westminster Abbey in 1953 and became a principal contralto at Covent Garden.
I knew none of this in 1981 when I enrolled in a creative writing course. Our instructor asked us to introduce ourselves. Then the turn came of the smartly dressed woman sitting opposite. She appeared to be in her mid-fifties. Huge brown eyes looked out from a still striking face, made up to the nines. Her blond hair was immaculate and so were her clothes.
We listened spellbound as this stranger recounted, in carefully modulated tones, how she had been born in Scotland, emigrated to Canada with her family when she was 10, studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and in New York. She had returned to Britain after the war, she said, to try her fortune as an opera singer. Oh yes, and she had sung at Covent Garden and in Westminster Abbey at the Queen's Coronation, before losing her voice to breast cancer. She had recently returned to Canada, after the death of her beloved husband, Edmond VERNON.
(When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, what she feared above death itself happened. The radical mastectomy affected her chest muscles, ruining that huge voice; a voice still capable of sending shivers down my spine when I listen to a rare scratchy 78 rpm vinyl recording of Jean singing Abide with Me, accompanied by the great Gerald Moore.)
Her tale seemed too gothic, even for an embryo writer. I was intrigued and gave her a lift home at the end of the class. I had never before met a true "diva." It proved an education. She had had a great voice. She said so herself. If you asked her opinion on some deathless prose you had written, she told the truth. Even in her eighties, she retained that "star quality" of hers, usually becoming the centre of attention at social gatherings.
Jean had loved her husband Edmond deeply and in return been equally loved by the eminent research chemist, who had put his own career on hold to follow her around the world's great concert and opera houses. And who then supported her in her time of trial.
After her voice was gone and she had conquered her initial despair, she taught music to small children in the pre-prep school of the famous English private school Harrow, where her husband had found work as a master.
When her husband died suddenly, shortly before he was due to retire, Jean returned to Canada, moving to Oakville, Ontario, to be near her brother. But her right arm began to wither, as a result of the cancer operation all those years before. Undeterred, the right-handed Jean wrote a Harlequin Romance novel using just her left hand. She was 79 when Love's Perjury, written under the pen name Marina Francis (she disliked British royal, Princess Marina, as much as she admired writer, Dick Francis) was released in 1988. It proved a bestseller in the romance genre and was translated into seven languages.
Jean died in a long-term care centre, leaving only a few old recordings of her magnificent voice.
Kate BARLOW is a friend of Jean.

  B... Names     BA... Names     BAR... Names     Welcome Home

BARLOW - All Categories in OGSPI

BAR surnames continued to 03bar002.htm