Geoffrey Barr:
CLASS OF 1966
Richmond High SchoolClass of 1966
Richmond, BC
University of British Columbia - AgricultureClass of 1971
Vancouver, BC
Geoffrey's Story
I have done a lot of things since I left High school probably because I am curious or some say I can't stay focused on one thing long! --- It is the story of a wanderer.
By 1971 I had graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Sc in Agriculture. After I graduated a pal and I traveled across Canada and down through the US and eventually visited my oldest Brother, Andy, in Jamaica where he was a university professor.
When I returned to Canada I started working for British Columbia Forest Service, Range Division in a town called Williams Lake. This job worked with the ranchers who ran their cattle on the open range and was responsible with issuing permits and conserving the rangeland.
I moved to another town, Kamloops, still working for the Forest Service and met my first wife Jennifer and married in 1977. We moved to Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada where I worked for Agriculture Canada as an extension worker. Christopher was born in December 1977 Julianne was born in July1981. PEI was a quiet little rural part of Canada which is quite beautiful in the summer.
1981 we moved back to B.C. to Chilliwack where I worked at the Bank of B.C. as a commercial loans officer specializing in agriculture. August 1984 Jennifer and I parted ways and I became a part time Dad. This had some very sad and very glad times. 1986 I changed jobs and became the General Manager of B.C. Dairyherd Improvement Services. This was the privatization of the two government DHIA programs. That year I also took my mother to Australia to visit my brother in Adelaide. We made it a seven week adventure stopping in Fiji, touring SE Australia in a camper van and visiting my brother. I took side trips to Tasmania and a week in Tahiti on the way back. Mom caught up to me in Papaette.
1988 While on an R&R trip to Club Med in Paradise Island in the Bahamas I met Mary Ann my wife of 20 years (married Feb 1990). The courtship saw us me all over the place -- the Grand Canyon, New York, Vancouver, and Florence Italy etc etc. We eventually decided that it was economically best for me to move to
the US which I did in late 1989. We then lived in Harrisburg Pennsylvania (State capital). This is close to Amish country (don't know if you have heard about these people but, they are funda...Expand for more
mental Christians which still farm with horses etc something like the Hutterites in Alberta). Very colorful. Here I worked for a farm equipment company and the University of Pennsylvania.
1990 We moved to Houston Texas following a job Mary Ann took. There I decided to be independent and got my Real Estate License and sold residential Real Estate. After 5 years of that I bought a franchise to a
Uniglobe Travel travel agency and was in business for myself. This was about the time airlines started to pay less commission and it was a very hard and expensive experience. We sold the agency when we moved to Tennessee.
2000 We moved to Knoxville in East Tennessee when Mary Ann was offered a job by an old friend. It was interesting there -- this is truly the home of moonshiners, hillbillies and red necks. There I worked for AAA East Tennessee Auto Club in their travel agency as their Marketing manager. After working for yourself 15 years working for someone else is really tough. Mary Ann got a good job offer in Pennsylvania back closer to where she was raised in New Jersey.
2003 Saw us in a little town called New Hope, PA which was about 40 miles north of Philadelphia. I tried my hand at Real Estate again but found I had more fun shooting photographs of the homes so became a freelance photographer / brochure producer, as well as, shooting virtual tours.
2006 Mary Ann is well respected in the retail industry and was recruited by a company called ShopNBC.com which is a cable and internet company similar to QVC. The Great Recession of 2008-2009 caught up to us and Mary Ann was downsized for the first time in her career. After 4 months of pounding the street the only viable option for us was for Mary Ann to take a job in Fargo, ND (it is not like the movie). It is 4 hours due south of Winnipeg and just as cold! I am still working as a photographer doing virtual tours.
My son Christopher (32) is a commercial pilot flying for Westjet, out of Calgary, as First Officer on Boeing 373's. Julianne (27) graduated with a business degree from University of New Brunswick. She is a construction safety officer and had worked on the Olympic site in Vancouver. Both are bilingual French / English.
So, yes I have been around. I still miss B.C. at times but I guess my home is down here now.
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