Right here in Barrie, Ralph Bouwmeester is delivering unique information that’s in demand all over the world. Ralph is a civil engineer whose business is built on providing services to architects, developers, municipal departments, land-use planners etc. It’s pretty standard stuff and Ralph has been meticulous in his approach to starting and building his business….

It’s funny how a person’s life work gets carried on. Jean Gable, famous in Barrie as a horticulturalist, died two years ago this spring. While she had her very, very busy hand in lots of things, she is likely known mostly for her large brimmed hat, and tiny stooped body, and her incredible energy around…

It’s a funny thing, the source of our gifts in life! This week I spent the night with the friendly folks, Ginny and Wayne, at the Sleep Lab at Royal Victoria Hospital. Every time I’m in there (the hospital, not the sleep lab… well, yes, the sleep lab, too… you know what I mean!) I’m…

It occurred to me the other day that the fabric of this wonderful community of ours is woven much like an artit’s tapestry. Each warp and weft is unique. Though we all share the jewel which is our waterfront, we bring such diversity to what we do… for instance, we still have courageous people opening…

We’re reading in all our local media these days about the tremendous influx of new people who are discovering the jewel that 90,000 of us call home. The housing (and economic) boom in the south end has those of us who remember the Highway 27 hill as being “out of town” shaking our heads in…

She was 22 years old when she ditched her university studies, picked up a paintbrush and started into business for herself. Her “get an education” folks were appalled, but this young woman headed into a business traditionally reserved for the male gender. She learned the subtle art of measuring and estimating, negotiating supplies, buying a…

Years ago (about 20) when The Advance was The Barrie Banner and I was its editor, John was a tireless contributor to the editorial page. Each week he’d craft a comic rendition which applied directly to the editorial or the story of the day. So, where’s John now? For nearly three decades John toiled at…

I’m thinking about the loss Barrie residents experienced at the end of July when two people who’d lived here a long time gave up their earthly addresses. There were completely unrelated; very likely they never met. A generation apart in age, these two died a day apart from each other and were buried in the…