Barbara Johnstone (nee Israels) a.k.a “Momma J, Momma Dez, Babs, Tiger”

Our beloved mom, Grammy and friend passed away on Tuesday as a result of an unforeseen accident. Mom faced her last nine days with dignity, unbelievable strength and even some of her ‘zany’ humour. After being moved to palliative care on day 5 she casually said the apples served were not “Cosmic Crisps”, her all -time favourite, as they were probably too expensive to serve to patients.

Born and raised in Regina, mom was one of two children (Linda) borne to Max and Audrey Israels. It was here in Regina where mom developed her love of the arts. She absolutely loved literature, was an accomplished piano player and incredible dancer. She danced ballet for 15 years culminating in time spent to hone those skills at the Banff School of Fine Arts.

Her love of literature eventually took her to the University of Manitoba where she earned degrees in both English and Education. It was also where she met the love of her life, Ken.

Ken and Barbie, and their movie star looks moved to Toronto in 1966 where mom got a job teaching English as a second language at George Brown College. Mom would return to teaching in her early 40’s as a Drama, Kindergarten and ESL teacher at Eden Rose Public School where she spent 15 fulfilling years.

Mom took a hiatus from teaching the first time for 18 years to focus on raising her kids Kevin (Leila) and Debbie (Chris). She was the most selfless mother any two kids could ask for, with an imagination, energy and creativity that was apparent every day we were with her.

As we grew up she spent her time; chauffeuring us (mostly Deb) to all of our sports and activities, teaching kinder-gym, organizing gymnastic meets, throwing great Christmas parties, selling Mary Kay (just an excuse to be with her pal) and continuing to instill her love of the arts into us. Classics had to be read, and quizzes were soon to follow…and you had better know who Mozart was.

She would throw that same selfless enthusiasm later in life into interacting with her grandchildren Charlie and Jack. Nothing was more important to her than those boys. Whether it was pretending to be “Davey Jones” with them at the cottage, or just sitting and kibitzing with them later in life she was her happiest when she was with them; her “jack of all trades” and her “soldier”.

Amazingly mom did a lot of this on her own as she lost our dad in 2002, but soldiered on learning to; garden, shovel snow, manage the finances and as she would say “just generally carry on”.

Later in life mom loved going to the symphony with her friends, following the Blue Jays, sneaking off to McDonalds for a cheeseburger and ingesting as many of Leila’s chocolate chip cookies as was permissible by law. And finally, she loved her new friends that she met at her Walden condo. Being part of that community revitalized my mother. We are so grateful she got to be a part of that.

Our lives are better for having known Barb. She is unforgettable, and will be missed but never forgotten.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Turner & Porter Neweduk Chapel, 1981 Dundas Street West, Mississauga on Wednesday, August 6th from 1:00 -3:30 pm with Eulogies given at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Credit Valley Hospital www.trilliumgiving.ca
On-line condolences may be made through www.turnerporter.ca