Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Well, this is a tough one for me. I’m sure it’s very hard on a lot of people because Barry was a very sweet person and I call him my mentor with his photography being such an excellent quality. We exchanged photos and occasionally photo bombs between us on social media, many of which were sunsets from coon Lake or Stony where our family Cottage is located.
Oddly, I never actually met Barry in person, but I feel like I’ve known him all my life. We had a very special connection and especially during the last year when things were getting really rough for him. We communicated many times each week and exchanged Philosophies on life and the beauty of nature, paddling in our canoes and the love of our family and friends
Up until March 22, communication from Barry stopped and I knew that he was getting close to crossing over that bridge to a life without any more pain. I’ll miss those 1112 and 1:00 AM chats that we had online as I was trying to be as uplifting and supportive as I could under the circumstances.
Barry will remain in my memory forever as he told me that in his words: “ Ward, we have already met”
I will try to follow in Barry‘s footsteps and will Continue to post beautiful pictures of the Kawartha Lakes on social media, always in his honor.
My deepest condolences to his whole family, including of course, Lisa , his sweet granddaughter, and of course, his dad who I would’ve loved to meet. Perhaps I will get that opportunity who knows but I’m finding that being three hours away I will not unfortunately make it in time for the celebration of life this Friday.
Many thanks For sharing the beauty inside you, Barry, Rest peacefully
Ward Strickland, ( Fairy Lake Island, Stony Lake , and Ottawa)
