1947
Barb
2024
Barbara Lynn McFadzen
April 21, 1947 — February 27, 2024
Calgary
She was also pre-deceased by her stepfather, Maurice Houle, and although she did not have children, she is survived by her gorgeous cat, Jiggs, and a full complement of loving nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews: Dean (Laynni), Andie (Mark/Beckett/Gibson), Jaime (Cliff/Brayden/Kasey/Deaken/Olivia), and Minette (Cody/Dylan/Gracie).
An avid storyteller and the life of most parties, Barb graduated from City Park College in 1966. In 1973, she answered the call of the open road, hopping in her beautiful blue ’69 Camaro convertible and moving to Calgary, where she lived for the next 50 years.
She worked various jobs before settling in at Hall Visual Systems, where she would remain for most of her career. She loved playing ball - she was a star fastball pitcher for many years - and loved watching most sports. The Flames nearly drove her to madness but the Blue Jays were her true passion.
She probably loved Kevin Pillar more than was healthy, but thought Marcus Stroman was too cocky and proclaimed Brett Lawrie an a#*hole long before the rest of us figured it out. Josh Donaldson, though, seemed like a guy she’d really like to drink with.
Which was also something she excelled at, spending much of her free time with friends at the casino, bingo hall or local pub, where she was something of a VLT connoisseur. She had a story for every occasion, even if we didn’t always know who the heck she was talking about, and she could smoke with the best of them. She was proud of her thick head of hair that refused to go grey long after the next generation of family members had succumbed - a fact she was always happy to point out every year when she returned to Saskatchewan for Christmas or to visit the family cabin at Waskesiu Lake.
Yet, despite the wild stories and off-colour jokes, Barb was one of the most soft-hearted animal lovers you could ever meet. Throughout her life she remained dedicated to a long list of cats, including feeding every stray that passed by and even making sure none of the neighbourhood squirrels ever went hungry.
She also loved her birds, especially Lucky the cockatiel. Lucky was Barb’s loyal roommate for 27 years and, apparently, the type of bird who sometimes made passionate love to a limbless stuffed mouse in the middle of the living room, a scarring childhood episode for us but greatly amusing to Barb.
Barb was loved and will be greatly missed by family and friends alike, and neither our intense Christmas games of 31 nor her festive local pubs will ever be the same without her.
The only service will be a small, family affair.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Barbara Lynn McFadzen, please visit our flower store.
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