Barbara Mary COURTNEY [27217]

  General Notes:

Obituary
TOONE, Barbara Mary
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, Barbara Mary Toone, on Feb 28, 2013 following brave struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Barbara was born to Cyril and Margaret Courtney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sept 18, 1929. She was one of nine brothers and sisters: Jean, Helen, Therese, Tommy, John, Margie, Cyril, and twin brother Don who felt a certain responsibility for her since, as he periodically reminded her, he came into the world first. Barbara trained as a nurse at Halifax Children's Hospital and at SickKids in Toronto. She moved to Victoria, BC in the spring of 1957 and married William Mark Toone in June of 1959. Together they built a home on the water in beautiful Cordova Bay where the ever changing ocean formed the back-drop to her life for the next forty-five years. There were many happy fishing expeditions and road trips to California but, in 1975, our father passed away leaving Barbara to take care of two teenagers. She retrained as a nurse and went back to work while raising us with unflinching love and energy (well, she hardly ever flinched). Mom will be missed tremendously by her children: her daughter Michelle Courtney (Tammy) Toone and her husband Paul Snelling, and her son William Mark Toone and his wife Ann Marie Flenniken, and by her grandchild Kaelie Toone. Barbara leaves her surviving brothers, Cyril and John, and numerous nieces and nephews. Barbara will also be missed by her longstanding circle of friends including Helena Isherwood from nursing school with whom she remained close through to her last days, Pauline and Peter Watkins, and a cadre of friends with whom she enjoyed many hiking trips, excursions and evening Happy Hours discussing world events and philosophical questions such as "Why do people choose to live anywhere else?" Thank you to her wonderful physicians, Dr. Douglas Hartford, Dr. Kristen Atwell Pope and Dr. Catherine Jenkins for years of outstanding and compassionate care. Thanks also to Helena for being there as a friend and advisor and to the exceptional staff at Sunrise Senior Care and Selkirk Place. Donations can be made, in lieu of flowers, to the Victoria Epilepsy and Parkinson's Centre.
A final Happy Hour will be held Thursday March 7.
Published in Victoria Times-Colonist on Mar. 2, 2013

Barbara married Dr William Mark TOONE MD [27145] [MRIN: 9777], son of William Charles TOONE [27215] and Amy Elizabeth EWING [27216], in Jun 1959 in Victoria BC CAN. (Dr William Mark TOONE MD [27145] was born on 25 May 1908 in Wimbledon SRY and died on 28 Dec 1975 in Victoria Vancover BC Canada.)