`I think of Dad in light of Easter, in the light of Christ's Resurrection
- the first of a new Race that will one day rise with Him, too.
Jane's Dad too is there to greet him -
- the first of a new Race that will one day rise with Him, too.
Jane's Dad too is there to greet him -
and we remarked to each other yesterday,
I wonder what our Dad's are doing today, this Easter Sunday!
What must it like to be in Heaven on Easter Morning !!!?
And now here are some thoughts about Dad's life that I shared at the funeral service . . .
On behalf of my mother and my sisters, Beth and Muriel, and all of our family
we want to thank you for your presence yesterday and today
– to join with us in our tribute and farewell to Dad . . .
– for your kinds words & remembrances
in so many ways.
We are honoured & thankful you have come to share
this part of the Journey & these moments with us:
– sharing with us the good memories
of this wonderful man
who was our husband, father, grandfather, brother,
Christian companion and friend.
How can one squeeze into a few moments a lifetime ? . . .
- of precious memories
- of faithful actions and activities
– talking of the impact and the legacy of this man.
My thoughts - like my dreams of him in these last few days
have been a kaleidescope of ever-changing
colours, textures, stories & images of his life.
— like a Monet painting -
of little points and dots of colour and light
- that we shall treasure in the memory and in the telling.
Born in Guelph, Freeman Barber lived with his family
in several places – Guelph & Toronto, Dundas
What must it like to be in Heaven on Easter Morning !!!?
And now here are some thoughts about Dad's life that I shared at the funeral service . . .
On behalf of my mother and my sisters, Beth and Muriel, and all of our family
we want to thank you for your presence yesterday and today
– to join with us in our tribute and farewell to Dad . . .
– for your kinds words & remembrances
in so many ways.
We are honoured & thankful you have come to share
this part of the Journey & these moments with us:
– sharing with us the good memories
of this wonderful man
who was our husband, father, grandfather, brother,
Christian companion and friend.
How can one squeeze into a few moments a lifetime ? . . .
- of precious memories
- of faithful actions and activities
– talking of the impact and the legacy of this man.
My thoughts - like my dreams of him in these last few days
have been a kaleidescope of ever-changing
colours, textures, stories & images of his life.
— like a Monet painting -
of little points and dots of colour and light
- that we shall treasure in the memory and in the telling.
Born in Guelph, Freeman Barber lived with his family
in several places – Guelph & Toronto, Dundas
and Burlington
as his father scrambled to find work
during the dirty thirties . . .
He came to Burlington in 1932
- to Brant Street, then to Freeman Corners
- and then to the farm on the Middle Road
(now the QEW) – just E. of the Guelph Line.
Dad had SEVERAL CAREERS, really . . .
He left school early and always regretted it that decision
- but he left because of a love for the farm and farming.
He married my Mom - Mary Almas - in December of ‘44
– and they spent & celebrated 62 years happily together.
Market Gardener
He had the opportunity of buying his own property -
from Uncle George Pollard . . . on Maple Avenue
and like Mom's extended family
- took up market gardening . . .
I think of all the planning & then the planting
in late winter and spring
- his creativity of trying new seed-brands
- the sheer hard work of it all . . .
Carpenter
as his father scrambled to find work
during the dirty thirties . . .
He came to Burlington in 1932
- to Brant Street, then to Freeman Corners
- and then to the farm on the Middle Road
(now the QEW) – just E. of the Guelph Line.
Dad had SEVERAL CAREERS, really . . .
He left school early and always regretted it that decision
- but he left because of a love for the farm and farming.
He married my Mom - Mary Almas - in December of ‘44
– and they spent & celebrated 62 years happily together.
Market Gardener
He had the opportunity of buying his own property -
from Uncle George Pollard . . . on Maple Avenue
and like Mom's extended family
- took up market gardening . . .
I think of all the planning & then the planting
in late winter and spring
- his creativity of trying new seed-brands
- the sheer hard work of it all . . .
Carpenter
In the mid '70's, Dad sold the farm and became a carpenter . . .
and was one for nearly as many years as he’d been in market gardening.
But I always think of him as on the farm,
for those are the years I shared with him at home . . .
So many people, yesterday, mentioned his creativity
and honest, professional work
. . . making ‘Florida Rooms' and rec rooms
and restoring garages.
You have seen how he was good with his hands:
– he learned & he expressed himself manually
& practically.
He became a custom craftsman in retirement years . . .
- like his Uncle Newark whom he’d always admired . . .
- carving as part of the living Nativity
here in this building . . .
- & colourful, intricate birds, wee shoes, lanterns,
butterflies, cradles,
- with intricate - patience and skill.
As with the gift of faith, Dad could see things whole
– real developed before they had actually been formed
or come into being.
HIS FAMILY
Dad was always saying, whenever we gathered:
– It’s so good to have all the family together . . .
He had many corny sayings, really:
- passed down through many Barber generations - 'Barbarisms' . . .
Boy, these cookies really get into your mouth, don’t they?
or
‘That filled a long felt want . . .’
– ‘Now it’s time to move to softer seats . . .’
- after dinner mints - ‘just mint for me . . .’
He was a wonderful Husband, companion & friend to Mary Almas
They knew each other from teen years -
— & really ever, only had eyes for each other.
Even in the recent extremities of his failing health
and limited capacities . . .
he kept saying to Mom: ‘together' . . .
And, indeed for over 62 years they did everything together: -
– they were inseparable
as they will be together again one day --
- as will we all
- in the Bright Country . . .
Father
He was a faithful, steady, a wonderful example
to Beth & Muriel & me
of a godly man, a faithful husband,
. . . a truly Christian father.
A few years ago, he & I took a trip together to England
- to see family ‘holy spots‘ of our origin . . .
- visiting farms, towns, churches and graveyards -
like in Fressingfield, Suffolk -
where from the 1300's at least Barbers have lived
& then been gathered to the Lord.
We bonded in a special way during those days together.
Brother
He was a good brother - caring for his siblings
– leading by example . . .
He was a twin to Frances -
& there were so many uncanny coincidences
(if that’s what they were)
of their often sending each other - without knowing -
the same card or a remarkably similar gift.
Sisters, Dora and Marnie were precious to him
- Dora with the Lord . . .
- Marnie, here today . . .
- wanting to clap (she said yesterday)
- and say, "Good for you: well done !"
- And his brother, Bert - whom he wrote faithfully week after week
through the years his brother and family
were missionaries in Honduras.
Wonderful Grandfather & Great-grandfather
-from his first granddaughter, Becky - 'his little puddin’
- to his great-grand-daughter – Elizabeth
- whom he saw with understanding – but once.
PERSONALITY
More lies are told at funerals than most other places
Dad was human - he had a temper and he had opinions . . .
He could be forthright
- Most people were never in doubt
of what he thought about certain subjects.
But he was a kind man –
a gentle, humble, self-effacing man, really.
He was a MAN OF FAITH
He knew he was a sinner saved by grace . . .
and with faith and conviction he lived it out,
without shame or apology
& his faith resulted in Good Actions & Good Deeds . . .
“Get the Book” - he would say, after supper each night -
& we would have a family reading & devotions
as he’d read a chapter of the old King James Version
& lead us in evening prayer.
What a godly heritage he formed in us !!! . . .
He was a ‘Gideon’ (the Gideon Bible Society)
- for over 35 years .
Thousands of school kids in Burlington
received their New Testaments from Dad . . .
and for many years, he saw to it that Gideon Bibles
were placed in hospitals and motels
throughout this area.
He was an Elder and leader -
at Freeman Gospel Tabernacle (Brant Bible Church),
and then Park Bible Church
and latterly as Elder Emeritus.
He was honoured to help turn the sod for this present building . . .
Dad had so many memories & stories of both churches
– & of this town he knew well.
- You’ll have to ask my Mom now . . .
I found in some papers where he had written. . .
The Desires of My Heart
1. I want to walk with Him
2. That each one my family may know Him in all His fullness
3. I want my work to be done in a way that will honour Him
4. I want my Church to be a place where God’s Word is taught in all
of its power – and a place where I can truly worship Him.
His thoughts were often about heaven . . .
- and we used to discuss and debate it, we family -
(pulling radishes together afternoons
on hot afternoons, in the fields on Maple Avenue,
— now long ago).
He knew so many of the great old hymns & gospel songs -
— all the verses (from the Sankey Hymnal)
Next to his bed in this last year of his long farewell
there was his Bible and his Sankey hymnal -
— not that he needed it: he knew all the words by heart!
In the land of fadeless day
Lies the city foursquare
It shall never pass away
For there is no night there
God shall wipe away all tears
There’s no death, no pain, no fears
And they count not time by years
For there is no night there.
There’s no need of sunlight there
In that city foursquare
For the Lamb is all the light (underlined in the little sheet I have)
In that city four square . . .
He loved the Lord and He so longed to see Him -
whether the Lord came for His Church first
or He was gathered to see Him in Eternity.
II Timothy 4:8 – Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:
and not to me only, but unto all them also who love his appearing.
Dad loved to plough . . .
I see it now as one of the major themes of his life.
He would talk of old Ned and Dolly - and of Junie -
the horse he raised from a young foal.
He took me once back to the farm
– Harvestor Road, at the top end -
across the tracks from the house on the QEW . . .
There was a tree there then; it’s still there today . . .-
And it’s the tree Dad would look to
as he began to mark out the first straight furrow line
– with horse-team & plough
— keeping his eye fixed, straight.
All his life,
since one day as a boy, coming to faith
at revival meetings in the old Oaklands Park,
Dad kept his eyes fixed on Jesus . . .
– the Author & Finisher of his faith . . .
- from the first furrow till the last.
– firm in faith in Jesus’ finished work on a tree.
Scriptures talk somewhere - giving a maxim and a warning
that: ‘No man who puts his hand to the plough,
and then looks back, is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.’
When he ploughed – Dad told me once –
he would pray . . . . in the rhythm of his walking:
– in furrow, field and acre . . . ‘Lord, make me a good man . . .”
I said to him once recently, reminding him of that –
You know how you prayed that, Dad ?
Well, He did. – God made you a good man.
Good-bye Dad . . .
Thank you for being the man God made you to be
– by His grace and power – a truly good man.
Your life & example - your hand, your humour,
your twinkle & your smile
will never be gone from our memory
– and we so look forward to seeing you again.
