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In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar
BARRY, Robert Burton - The death of The Reverend Robert Burton Barry of Saint John, NB, husband of the late Bessie Evelyn (Brooks) Barry, occurred on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Born in Beaver Harbour, NB on August 4, 1919, he was a son of the late William Luther and Viola Pearl (Eldridge) Barry. Following completion of High School in Black’s Harbour and graduation from King’s College in Halifax, NS, he served as a clergyman with the Anglican Church of Canada, retiring from parish ministry in 1985 and continuing to serve as Provincial Chaplain for the Royal Canadian Legion. During WW II he served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1939 – 1945. He is survived by four sons, The Reverend Robert John Barry (Marguerite) of Miramichi, NB, Ian David Barry of DesMoins, Iowa, Paul Renison Barry of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Charles James Gibbs (Margaret) of Niagara Falls, ON; one daughter-in-law, Glenna Barry of Truro, NS; thirteen grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his first wife, Catherine (Barr) Barry; a son, Carl Alistair Barry; and three brothers, James, Milton and Carl Arrangements are under the care of Brenan’s Select Community Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, Saint John (506-634-7424). Visiting on Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 pm. at St. James Anglican Church, Loch Lomond Rd., with a Tribute to a Veteran Service at 7 pm. Funeral Service from the Church on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 11:00 am. Interment will be in Christ Church Cemetery, Pennfield, NB. Remembrances may be made to St. James Church, Lakewood or any charity of choice. (Brenan's Funeral Home and Crematorium)
Murmansk Run changed clergyman's life
ST. STEPHEN - The Second World War convoy run to Murmansk in northern Russia changed people who survived it, including Able Seaman Robert Burton Barry.
Barry, a Baptist from Beaver Harbour, studied theology at Kings College in Halifax, after the war to become an Anglican priest - something he did not plan when he signed up in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1939.
"From the story of my mother, apparently he was on the Murmansk Run," his son Rev. Robert John Barry of Miramichi said in an interview Thursday, the day after his father's death at 90.
The Germans tried desperately to cut the flow of supplies into northern Russia. They sank more than 20 per cent of the convoy cargo on the Murmansk Run, compared to six per cent of cargo to the Russians through Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf, according to information on the Veterans Affairs Canada website.
Barry survived, but came back "a different man," his son recalled his mother telling him.
Barry met Catherine Barr of Glasgow, Scotland, during the war. After their marriage in 1944, she came in to Canada. She settled with her in-laws, William Luther and Viola Pearl (Eldirdge) Barry. "She stayed with Dad's parents in Beaver Harbour until he was mustered out in '45," the younger Robert Barry said.
The navy sent Barry to a land-based job in Northern Ireland before the war ended.
"Believe it or not, he got seasick. That's how he was able to land a shore job in Londonderry," the younger Robert Barry said, recalling his father saying, 'It got me off the ship, anyhow.' "
The younger Barry does not believe that seasickness had much to do with the change that convoy duty in the Arctic wrought on his father.
"I think everyone was so scared, that was the inference from my mother," he said.
He eventually received a small pension for loss of hearing likely related to serving without ear protection near firing guns.
After the war, Barry finished his program at Kings College and then moved his family to Nakina, Ont. - "250 miles as the crow flies north of Port Arthur" - in the diocese of Moosonee in 1949.
His bishop ordained him an Anglican priest in Schumacher, Ont., in 1949. The Barrys had three more boys: Ian David, Paul Renison and Carl Alistair.
He loved his years in northern Ontario, working in a district served by dogsled, train and airplane.
"There were no cars there," the younger Robert said.
The family returned to New Brunswick after 10 years mainly because Barry's parents, who ran a general store at Beaver Harbour, were getting older.
"By the time I got out of there, '59, I was 15," the younger Robert said. "The first summer we came out of the north country we stayed there in Beaver Harbour."
Barry served as an Anglican clergyman at St. Martins, Richiboucto and Harcourt, Hardwicke near Bay du Vin, and his last posting at McAdam.
His first wife, Catherine, died in 1965. Barry married Bessie Evelyn Brooks, a widow from Sussex with a son Charles James Gibbs, in 1969. She died four years ago.
Barry retired from parish duties and moved to Saint John in 1985.
He served as the Royal Canadian Legion's provincial padre for several years.
"He was a very nice person," Mavis Cooper of Miramichi, current president of the legion's New Brunswick Command, said. "He took the time to speak to you, he was very understanding."
In Saint John, the elder Rev. Barry attended St. James Church in Lakewood.
(The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, NB) 17 Aug 2009
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