Mary Joyce BARRE

BARRE, Mary Joyce August 30, 1917 - March 29, 2009 BARRE, Fernand Charles Maurice February 15, 1916 - February 8, 2017 Farewell to a great life. Married for 64 years and living for a combined total of 192 years. Mary and Fern Barre experienced a wealth of life experiences. Mary, born in 1917 in Grenfell, Saskatchewan, was the youngest child of Elizabeth and Peter Gadzek and last surviving sibling of Carl Dyke and Katherine (husband, Frank Temple). Mary's mother died in the flu epidemic of 1917, she was raised by her grandparents and the Burchart family. She left Grenfell at the age of 19, with her sister, settling in Chilliwack where she met the love of her life, Fernand. In 1945 they got married and began a life together, living in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Along the way they started a family. She leaves behind her daughter Susan (husband, Karl Burdak); granddaughters, Nadine and Maria (husband, Stephen Fish); and great grandson Nathan. Remembered with love for her kindness, her gentle, generous and loving personality, she enriched our lives and ensured that we valued family, friends, learning and of course gardening. Fernand, born in 1916 of Charlotte and Ambroise on the family farm between Duck Lake and Rosthern, Saskatchewan. He sorely missed the passing of the family who went before him: Joe (wife, Lillian), Louis (wife, Claire), and Francine (husband, Pat McInnes). Moving with his parents and siblings to Chilliwack in 1936, Fern worked there on farms, in North Vancouver as a finishing carpenter at Burrard Shipyards, then as an industrial arts instructor on the west coast of Vancouver Island. He volunteered for service in WWII as a Royal Canadian Engineer. He was stationed in England, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Upon his discharge from the army in 1945, he started his own business as a building contractor. The climate of Vancouver Island persuaded him to move his family to Courtenay, then Ladysmith, later settling in Nanaimo where he and Mary lived for over 40 years before making their final move back to North Vancouver in 2007. He is fondly remembered for his love of family, gardening and woodworking, for his inquisitive mind and as a raconteur of bygone times. You both will be sorely missed. You enriched our lives and made us aware of how much the world has changed in a century. Lovingly joined in life and death. It is only fitting that your obituaries and interment be done together. Sweet dreams, God bless, we love you. Interment will be held on May 19, 2017, at 3pm, at First Memorial Garden, 1505 Lillooet Road, North Vancouver, BC.