Obituaries

Brian Lyall Barbour, born December 28, 1947 in Glasgow, Scotland. Passed away at home, March 27, 2025, from cancer, with wife Anne and Home Care nurse Julie by his side. Brian had a light-hearted demeanour but was always responsible, and stood strong through his journey with the disease, never complaining, always positive about the people in his life and the things he had to be thankful for.

Predeceased by parents William (Bill) (d. 1993) and Elizabeth (Betty) (Brodie) (d. 1981).

Survived by sons Lyall (Lauren) from OH, Ethan (Shengmei) from AL and Jesse, from ON, brother William (Bill) from MI. His four grandsons, many nieces and nephews live across Canada and the U.S.

Brian grew up in Dearborn, Mi, where he became a Tool and Die Journeyman. Moving to Ontario in 1970, he and Anne married that year. He was a toolmaker in Windsor but moved from building tools for the automotive industry, to designing them, under the tutelage of (Ralph) Howling Design. Brian worked for several companies in the capacity of designer, checker, room supervisor, and project engineer, both in Windsor and Detroit. His experience as a toolmaker helped him see the simplest way a tool or an entire line could be built. Brian always promoted the KISS system. (Keep it simple, Sally.)

Brian taught his three sons to look at any job not as 'work', but as a challenge; and how can we make it fun? But if it wasn't fun, you had to take the roughage with the smoothage. He taught them not to be afraid of physical work, and included them in house and yard maintenance, including bringing in logs by tractor from the 35-acre bush we lived on in Essex County, to cut, split and stack for the wood-burning furnace. Brian could fix anything, always safely, but resourcefully, using first what he had on hand. When people told him he was lucky, he answered "Funny, the harder I work, the luckier I get." Brian was a planner, always looking ahead. After his first trip to the Kawarthas, he knew he would retire here, and did so early, motivated by the project of building a home on Balsam Lake in Coboconk. The house framing was led by local carpenter Rick Scissons and Brian did what he was told. Then Brian built the stairs, banisters, cabinetry in the house and stained-glass decor. Echoing Red Green, he would say "If you can't be handsome, you might as well be handy."

Summer camping trips in Ontario, and the U.S. helped his sons learn about travel and nature. This carried on with Anne in retirement in birding expeditions in Europe, North and South America. Locally, the Kawartha and Carden Field Naturalists were a large part of his retired life.

A Celebration of Life was held on Sunday, April 6 from 2PM-4PM at Lakeland Funeral Centre (19 Moose Road, Lindsay Ontario, K9V 0A2)

As expressions of sympathy, donations to Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital or Hospice Services Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes would be appreciated by the family. Visit www.lakelandfuneralcentre.com to sign the virtual guest book and leave your special memories.