Barbara Parker
Posted Sep 8, 2022 | 2:05 PM
Barbara Parker 1928 to 2022
After 94 years, we say goodbye to Barbara Parker with love and sadness….
Growing up in Preston, England, Barbara lived a quiet life with her older brother Bob and her parents Jack, a bus driver and her mother Irena. Barbara met and married Clifford Parker in 1949. After what must have been considerable discussion, they made the decision to emigrate to Canada – a country where they knew no one, had no home or family.
In an ironic twist, the day they received visas and paperwork to emigrate was the day they were notified of their successful application to purchase a Council House in Preston which they had been trying to do for over a year. They climbed “all aboard” instead, with Cliff sailing across the Atlantic first and a few months later, Barbara and Ian, then only about 3, followed on another ship.
Initially settling in Port Credit, Ontario, Cliff worked for AVRO Aircraft and Barbara at the Pittsburgh Paint plant in Toronto where she assisted with HR, Payroll, tax filings and documentation for over 200 employees – a job that she loved. She knew everyone in the company and every two weeks got to sit down with the Brinks guy and give out packets of money to everyone. Yes, paid in cash. What would that look like today.?
After AVRO, the family eventually moved to Ottawa and Barbara worked at several government positions. She settled at a rarely spoken of Government agency called obscurely “Communications Branch, NRC”, which was the predecessor of our modern day CSIS. There she worked for 25 years at a job that she could never discuss.
She rose to become the Federal government’s expert on the activities of Russian and American ships and nuclear submarines in the Canadian high Arctic, giving security briefings to the Captains of Canada’s large icebreakers and to the Base Commander of the Alert Air Force Base. Let’s just say, the Minister of National Defence came to her retirement luncheon.
She was never a baker, a great cook yes, but not a baker. She felt guilty that Ian and Karen were raised on store bought cookies instead of homemade. One day she tried to make up for this by baking a batch of home-made cookies – when her kids told here that she shouldn’t make any more – she never did!!
She was also a very good driver which was important driving the Ottawa winter roads with their snow and ice. She loved to drive her Mazda Miata convertible that she got to celebrate her 70th birthday. When she reached the age when she had to have a medical to keep driving, the doctor gave it to her immediately when he learned that her car was a five-speed manual!
In 1992 they moved again and Cliff and Barbara settled in Vernon BC. This was a very happy place for both with many good friends and experiences. During that time, she volunteered on the Board of the new Preforming Arts centre during its development through to construction. An achievement of which she was justifiably proud. She also continued her love of travel with Machu Pichu, Rio, the Galapagos, Alaska and the Panama Canal to name just a few of her global adventures.
After Cliff passed away in 1998, Barbara remained in the house until 2015. That winter she moved out of the Vernon house and took up residence in Canterbury Court where she enjoyed the freedom of her own apartment, friends on the premises and the convenience of support services. She remained there till moving to a care facility in Kelowna, 2021 passing peacefully in July 2022. Never a complainer and always kind and considerate of others, she would still laugh and smile until her last sunset.
Barbara is survived by her children, Karen and Ian, and the members of her extended family – Ian’s wife Barb, Pete, Sid and her poodle, Ricky, leaving them all with lots of great memories and stories to tell.
Barbara’s absolute favourite song was Louis Armstrong’s “Its a Wonderful World”, we hope you remember her whenever you hear it …….
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
What Matters
