THOMPSON, Barbara Jean 1946 – 2022. We are hugely
saddened to announce that Barbara died at South Shore
Regional Hospital, Bridgewater in Nova Scotia on Thursday, August 4,
2022 after a long respiratory illness. She will be greatly missed by
sisters Fiona and Wendy, brothers Michael and David, brothers-in-law
Andrew and Darryl, sisters-in-law Donna and Sandra, and also Laura,
and by many dear friends, especially Janet, in Lunenburg and Ontario.
Barb was gifted with easy intelligence and a top-of-the-class creative
ability. She was a quiet wit with laughter in her soul and a great
gift for making deep, enduring friendships. She made cats purr with
the pleasure of her company. Barbara was born in Liverpool, England on
November 15, 1946, the first daughter to Tina and Geoff Thompson. Her
older brother, Craig, died tragically at three-and-a-half the
following year. When she was five, Barb’s parents decided to
emigrate to Canada. Her father went ahead in 1951 and her mother, with
Barbara and her younger sister Fiona, sailed from Liverpool on RMS
Franconia in August 1952. The family settled in Ajax, Ontario where
Wendy, Michael and David were born. Barb was always a Grade A student.
Fiona remembers her grade four teacher looking over his spectacles
after her first test and asking: “Are you sure you’re
Barbara’s sister?” Barb graduated from Ajax High School
in 1965 and went to Guelph University, graduating with a BA in French,
followed by an MA in Library Science from the University of Western.
Her first job as a librarian was at the Nursing School in Stratford,
Ontario followed by 15 years as Branch Head at the Preston branch of
Cambridge Public Library. It was while at Preston that Barb and a
number of colleagues who became close friends formed the Gorm Club.
Initially they served “gourmet” meals in each
other’s homes and later sourced the most publicly
embarrassing stunts possible which members, each in their turn, had to
perform on their birthdays. In 1989 Barb became Branch Head at the
Hillsburgh branch of the Erin Township Regional Library, while also
running Garden Gate Antique and Gift Shop with Janet. Having both
decided to move to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Barbara made the 1,207 mile
journey during the Great North American Ice Storm of early January,
1998, driving in a little Toyota Tercel packed to the rafters. It was
so icy she had to take refuge in a motel in Quebec for two nights,
crawling across the parking lot on her hands and knees. Barb made many
new friends in Lunenburg, working as a title researcher at the County
Registry Office, at a health food store and at a bookstore in Mahone
Bay. She sang in a choir and volunteered at Shaid Tree Animal Shelter
for many years, having always had a profound concern for animal
welfare. Barb regularly went back to Ontario to visit family and
friends and also spent three, six month stints in Norfolk, England,
working with Fiona and Andrew in their B&B and holiday cottage
business. She loved her times in Norfolk, the wide, empty beaches, the
lovely dogs, the walking holidays and more new friends. In every house
she lived in, Barbara created a beautiful home and garden. She had a
brilliant eye, was a truly wonderful designer and a decorator of
perfection. Barb was vehement that she didn’t want to have a
funeral. Instead, she wanted to have a party, “with lots of
laughter and wine”. Details will follow but it looks like there
will be three – one in Nova Scotia with many dear friends; one in
Ontario with her cousins, more friends and her much loved nephews and
nieces Derek, Nicholas, Chelsea, Geoffrey, Kevin and Crystal and one
in Liverpool with Fiona and Andrew and cousins. We would like to thank
the following for their help: Dr. Camille Munro and Rachelle Rebman,
RN, from the South Shore Area Palliative Care Service; friends Cathy
Risser and Sarah Waterfield; the staff at both the Fishermen’s
Memorial Hospital and the South Shore Regional Hospital. Barb was a
hugely kind, gentle woman who will be sorely missed by many. For
anyone wanting to make a donation in her memory, please make it to the
Shaid Tree Animal Shelter via the following link:
www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/shaid-tree-animal-shelter/ or
through the Funeral Home. For more information, contact Wendy Tims on
wfet1921@gmail.com or Janet Cowan on caper16@yahoo.ca
Arrangements are under the direction of the R.A. Corkum
Funeral Home, Wileville, where on-line condolences may be made by
visiting www.corkumfuneralhome.ca
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Barbara Thompson 1946 2022..
Death notice for the town of: Wileville, Province: Nova Scotia