Forty years ago when the Barrie Country Club abandoned its location on Sunnidale Rd to move out to the wilds of Oro Township at the end of St Vincent St., their property was going to be put up for sale. Eighty acres. On the edge of town in those days. Kitty corner to the cemetery….
Fourteen women. Fifty-two years of survival. Breast cancer. Sisters. Mothers. Wives. Daughters. Friends. Bonded by this single steel thread of determination, tears, dust and dignity. Strangers until their second meeting last Tuesday night, these women are making waves. They’re going to pick up their paddles and cross the finish line at Barrie’s first ever (and…
A father, clutching a small satchel. Behind him a very pregnant woman, holding the hand of a small child. Surrounded by sand. Trying to escape Iraq. The newspaper photo held me, took me back to 1947, two generations ago, when a young man, his pregnant wife, their little son and soon-to-be-second-son made a life-threatening bid…
Rumours fly, don’t they? How many times have you heard someone say that half the people who ‘sleep’ in Barrie drive to Toronto to work? Thousands and thousands and thousands of Barrie residents have to leave Barrie for decent jobs. You know… rumours. Well, thanks to an initiative of both the federal and provincial governments…
Mary, wife of B.W. Ross. Died February 13, 1873. She died trusting in Jesus, aged 33 yrs, 4 months. Herbert and Mary Edith, infants of B.W. and Mary Ross. There lies a dramatic story, perhaps of a young woman who died giving birth to twins, who also perished in the process. And what became of…
When Ted Burns brought his enthusiasm for law to a small set of offices on Collier St, Barrie was a community of 24,000 people and opening a law practice took some money and alot of courage. And now, 30 years later, the legal and judicial community in Barrie and most of Simcoe County has bowed…
There’s a contradiction in Isobel Smith McBride’s life. You could say that her life’s enthusiasm was accuracy– knowing, understanding, recording the truth… ensuring that Barrie’s life has an accurate place in history. And yet, the fact of her own date of birth was something she refused to reveal. “Ladies don’t reveal their ages,” she would…
You might say Maurice DiMonte has a door fetish. I mean, how many people do you know who’ll adjust the door in a restaurant using a dime as a screwdriver? Maurice is a perfectionist when it comes to door frames, sashes, knobs and fittings. He expects a door to click closed with a whisper, fit…
My heart stopped this week. I was away in Alberta last week, skiing with our older kids who work in the industry there, and the local papers awaited me. And as I was reading last week’s issues, my heart skipped when I came to the obituary for Cathie Smethurst Tulloch Renault. Age 55. Mother of…
When a tiny infant is born early at RVH, it’s wrapped lovingly in a hand made quilt. When a woman arrives at the new Elizabeth Fry home in Barrie, she can wrap herself in a hand made quilt. Children arriving into care with Children’s Aid society can cuddle with a hand made quilt, as can…