William Ross Barry

William (Bill) Ross Barry May 27, 1942 - October 5, 2015

The family of Bill Barry is saddened to announce his passing on October 5, 2015. Bill was born in Prince Albert, SK on May 27, 1942 and was the eldest child of Jim and Eileen Barry. Bill is survived by his children Jackie (Curtis) Taypotat and Kim Barry; stepchildren Patricia, Amber and Chris; grandchildren April (Justin), Dallas (Marissa), Ty, Kashtin and Jaycee; great-grandchildren Kayden, Shayni, Adalie and Olivia; sister Betty Ann (Fred) and brothers Mike (Lorr) and Tim (Janice); also extended family and friends.

Bill received his primary and secondary education in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Regina.

Bill's Army career involved postings in Winnipeg and Regina. After attending U of R, he became a teacher at Balfour Technical School in Regina, Vice-Principal in Star City, Assistant Superintendent for the Long Lake School Division in Watrous, and was Director of Education for the Shamrock School Division in Foam Lake. He then joined the Government of Saskatchewan, where one of his many roles was Project Director for the construction of the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre. He also served as Director of Planning for Saskatchewan Health. Bill was proud of his consultant's role in the completion of the transfer of Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital (All Nations Healing Hospital) from the federal government to the Touchwood File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council.

Bill had been an avid stamp collector from an early age. Part of his collection focused on his attempt to acquire a postmark from all the 3,000 post offices that once existed in Saskatchewan. In his research, he uncovered interesting facts about the origin of their names. Bill approached the CBC and for several years presented a weekly broadcast on Saskatchewan place names. He became an accomplished speaker to various groups and organizations across the province.

In 1997, Bill embarked on a new career in writing. He is the author and publisher of seven books on Saskatchewan place names: "People Places: Saskatchewan and its Names", "People Places: The Dictionary of Saskatchewan Place Names", "People Places Cookbook", "Ukrainian People Places", "People Places: Contemporary Saskatchewan Place Names", "Age Shall Not Weary Them" and "Geographical Names of Saskatchewan". He also served as assistant editor of the "Atlas of Saskatchewan".

Bill's most recent passion was the development of the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial (SVWM) web site. He maintained the database that the web site is built upon and moderated the Wiki making sure that public submissions conformed to standards, and regularly added photographs and other information to the website. (www.svwm.ca) Bill was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, in recognition of his service to the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial.

We would like to thank the staff at Regina General Hospital for their compassionate care during the last days of Bill's life, particularly the extremely competent Medical Intensive Care Unit.

There will be a Celebration of Life gathering in the summer of 2016.