Marie Delma Barkley

 

Born November 17, 1932 – Died April 12, 2016 

The daughter of Walter and Josephine Hutchinson, Marie Delma Barkley was born November 17, 1932. The eldest of five children, she had one brother, Walter and three sisters, Cecilia, Edith and Alice.

 Marie grew up in the Peterborough area, and her younger life was difficult and unstable. She shouldered heavy responsibilities from a young age. She was determined to keep track of her younger siblings as the family broke up and she, and her brothers and sisters were separated and placed in various living situations including orphanages, with foster families, and with relatives. 

In spite of the distances they were separated by, Marie managed to keep track of everyone, and she was like a mother to her younger sister, Alice. 

In her later years, Marie was very curious about her family heritage, and she was convinced of links to a native ancestry. 

Marie started her own family with Ivan Hall in 1951. She had two children from this union, Delma and Stanley. In 1952, when Marie was just 20 years old, Ivan was killed tragically in an automobile accident. She and the two children remained in Gananoque until 1957. 

After Ivan’s death, Marie enrolled in a nursing program in Ottawa, where she lived there for several months with her younger sister Alice. 

During this time, she was introduced by a nursing classmate Gloria Prevost to Leonard Barkley of Morrisburg. A relationship developed, and she and Leonard were married in 1957. Following her marriage, she, with Delma and Stanley, joined Leonard, in Morrisburg, on the Barkley family farm.

Marie and Leonard added four more children to their young family: Bill in 1958; Danny in 1960; Clayton in 1962; and Marshall in 1963. 

For the next 23 years, Marie lived a farm life and focused her time on raising her children and participating as an active member of St. Paul’s Lutheran church. 

She became a widow again, in 1980, when Leonard died suddenly. Marie was 48 at the time.

After Leonard’s death, Marie remained on the family farm. She started a new career with Meals on Wheels and worked tirelessly for her church and for her community. 

Travelling and family were the highlights of her life. She travelled extensively for her own enjoyment and as representative of her church on a number of travel missions. She was proud to proclaim to anyone who was listening that she had slept on every continent. 

She was always up for any trip large or small. It could be a short day trip to Gananoque to visit friends, to Vancouver Island, by train with her grandson Tom to visit Stan and family, or halfway across the world to a remote mission in Papua, New Guinea.

Marie was humble but strong willed and never lacked an opinion. She had an indomitable inner strength. Her ability to recover from personal tragedy as well as the ability to live a productive full life while battling her recurrent bouts of cancer were inspiring. 

She was fiercely independent and seemed at times to view needing help as a weakness to be subdued and conquered.

Marie was a loyal friend and mother and was available, without hesitation, at any time of the day or night to assist friends, family, acquaintances, or strangers. 

Marie was a very social person. She was a talented singer, enjoyed passionate discussions, had an excellent sense of humour. 

She loved open spaces, beautiful scenery, flowers, writing letters, reading, playing music, playing scrabble, meeting with friends for a Timmy’s coffee, travelling with her sister Ally to play Euchre, singing with the Seaway Valley Singers, Canada Club events, church sponsored dinners and pretty well any dinner, event or concert in the area.

In her younger days, Marie was very athletic, a strong swimmer and cyclist. She would try almost anything and she did. Hot air ballooning in Ottawa, the roller coaster at Expo 67, the sky tower at Expo 86 and hiking at Machu Picchu.

Marie’s life was ruled by a strict desire to be useful, to do good, and to make a difference. She acted without compromise or reservation when the need arose. She never wavered from her values of loyalty and honesty. She earned the respect of most every person or organization she was involved with. 

For Marie respect for a task well done was the only reward that mattered to her. The acknowledgement she valued was that of “Marie you did a great job”. 

Marie Barkley – sister, mom, grandma, great-grandma, aunt, cousin, dear friend, community member, You did a great job. Rest in Peace. 

Marie is survived by her sister, Alice Robertson of Morrisburg, and her brother Walter Hutchinson of Missouri,She will be lovingly remembered by her children Delma Hall of Ottawa, Stanley Hall (Carol) of Port Mcneill, BC, Bill Barkley (Delia) of Morrisburg, Clayton Barkley (Sue) of Iroquois and Marshall Barkley (Conchita) of Morrisburg, and by her grandchildren, Viki, Lenka, Sameh, Ivan, Dylan, Thomas, Solomon, Liam, Denzil, Sebastian, Dani Shae and Grace. 

She is also survived by seven great-grandchildren Ivy, Hazel, Ray, Marika, Anik, Bryson, Jaidyn. She will be fondly remembered by her numerous nieces and nephews. 

Marie was predeceased by her sisters Cecilia, Edith and by her son Danny.

Friends and family gathered at Marsden and Mclaughlin Funeral Home on Thursday, April 14th. Funeral services were held Friday, April 15th in Williamsburg, at the South Dundas Lutheran Community Church. 

Eulogies were presented by Marie’s longtime friend and congregation member, Volker Gruetzner, her son Stanley Hall and her granddaughter Viki Holan. Musical tributes were provided by her granddaughter Dani Shae Barkely and her longtime friend Sandra Barkley Probst. “You are My Sunshine”  was sung by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

There was also a very special musical tribute by Conchita’s parents (Marshall’s in-laws), the Padua’s of Mississauga

Pallbearers: were grandchildren Viki Holan, Lenka Cutler, Ivan Hall, Solomon Barkley, Thomas Barkley, Denzil Barkley, Sebastian Barkley, Dani Shae Barkley and Grace Barkley

Since you’re here…

… Thanks for reading this article. Local news is important. We hope that you continue to support local news in your community by reading The Leader, online and in print. Please consider subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. Click here to subscribe today.

Subscribe to Email Alerts

Enter your email address to subscribe to Email Alerts and receive notifications of new posts by email whenever The Leader publishes new content on our website.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply