A few weeks ago we lost John and Barb Robertson, two of the Sunshine Coast’s shining lights – unique characters who were many things to many people. John, 94, died at Sechelt Hospital on Dec. 22. Barb, 85, passed away at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver on Jan. 14. Somehow it’s fitting they were apart so briefly, because together, they shared a life both rich and fulfilling.
Both born in England, John and Barb contributed much to this community, and had accumulated a wealth of experiences before landing on these shores.
During World War II, John flew in biplanes as a navigator/observer. He would skim the surface of the Mediterranean, under the bow of ships that had just been disabled or sunk by Allied Forces. Tasked with identifying and recording the names of these ships, John was eventually captured and held in a prisoner of war camp. Twice he tunneled out; twice he was captured.
John was a resourceful man who didn’t know how to quit. On Jan. 21, 1942, he received the British Distinguished Service Medal. After the war, John became a BBC Radio personality. He moved to Vancouver and joined the CBC where he met writer Barb Grant.
John and Barb were writers, poets and actors – creative in all aspects of their lives. Together, their adventures took them all over North America, including California, where John was a groundskeeper for actor Doug Sheehan, and the Florida Keys, where John and Barb ran a pub and lived on a sailboat. They moved to the other end of North America to be schoolteachers in the First Nations village of Bella Bella, B.C. They moved to Boston Bar to continue teaching, and John became principal of North Bend elementary school.
By the early 1990s, they were living on the Sunshine Coast where John wrote three novels (A Comedy of Terrors, Rape the Two Egypts, and Trapped in Tunisia) and Barb wrote and directed a play (Loot and Locket). John volunteered as a disaster preparedness officer, and he and Barb joined the Sunshine Coast Music Makers adult choir.
Barb joined the Davis Bay, Selma Park, Wilson Creek Community Association, and was a part of the Neighbourhood Planning Committee where John was a director. They were instrumental in creating annual Christmas plays with the Sunshine Coast Panto Society, and John acted in some, too. Barb took several principled stands on various causes, as Sechelt council will remember only too well. She objected to taking her seniors’ driving test in Burnaby and mounted a successful campaign on behalf of seniors for the right to take the test here on the Coast. Just weeks before she died, she had discussed forming a group to welcome Syrian refugees newly arrived in Canada.
To their many friends, Barb and John meant so much: friendly, welcoming, generous, creative and caring to virtually all who crossed their path. They were quintessential Brits, always quick to turn a word or a phrase for entertainment and amusement. Wherever they travelled, people’s lives were enriched by their infectious sense of humour, creativity and energy. A group of people who lived and worked in Bella Bella credit John and Barb for helping them make it through that remote West Coast experience. Children loved their contagious and creative energy. Having no children of their own as a couple, numerous friends knew them as Uncle John and Auntie Barb.
Many will miss the contrived games that Barb always invented, the afternoon teas and the English country garden that John always maintained so well, their energy, imagination and creativity.
It’s fitting they left together. Somewhere, they’re already organizing folks for a game followed by drinks and a meal. Goodbye and thanks, John and Barb. The Coast will never be quite the same without you.
