Determined. Kind. Clever. Quietly radical. Admirer of a perfect pear. These are just a few of the descriptors of Barbara offered by friends and family this week.
Barbara Findlay was born in a British army hospital in 1933. With the outbreak of World War II, she was sent to live with an aunt in Scotland. Although separated from her parents and siblings for long stretches, she spoke fondly of her childhood.
As she entered her 20s in post-war London, Barbara realized she wanted to see the world. After training as a librarian, she secured a job in a Canadian university library and packed her bags. She found a place to live, made new friends and pursued a degree.
In the early 1960s, she met a red-headed Canadian named Michael Hicks at a Student Christian Movement meeting in Toronto. He was smitten with her combination of brains, beauty, independent spirit, and humour. A first date at Fran’s Restaurant on St Clair soon led to marriage, followed by the birth of three daughters.
The family eventually settled in Ottawa, where Barbara re-entered the workforce full-time as a librarian. She loved her career, especially her work at the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, the National Library of Canada, and as Chief Librarian at St. Paul University. Equally committed to community engagement, she was awarded several distinctions for her volunteer work over the decades.
At home, she and Michael created a loving and welcoming environment full of laughter, music, and conversation. Their house became a hangout of choice for their daughters’ friends. When grandkids arrived, Barbara delighted in carrying out her “granny duties”.
A beloved aunt, great-aunt and cousin to many dozens of relatives on both sides of the pond, Barbara worked hard to ensure her “Maple Leaf” children were well connected to her family in Scotland and England.
As her mental and physical capacities waned, Barbara spent the last few years at the Glebe Centre and thrived in their engaging and cozy environment. In the last days of Barbara’s life, old friends and staff dropped in to hold her hand, share stories, sing and shed a few tears. It was clear that even with dementia, Barbara’s light shone brightly.
She is remembered with great love by daughters Jennifer, Margaret, and Sarah; grandchildren Mark, Carolyn, and Meredith Nicol, Santiago and Juan Ainslie, and Oscar and Ben Leckman; sons-in-law Bruce Ainslie and Michael Leckman; multiple generations of nieces, nephews and cousins; and friends of all ages. She was predeceased by her husband of 60 years, Michael Hicks; her parents, Brigadier Charles Findlay CBE MC and Mary (Paterson) Findlay; sisters Jean Ker, Molly Findlay and Nan Maitland; and brother John Findlay.
We invite friends and family to join us for a celebration of Barbara’s life on August 26 at 11 a.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, 414 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ontario. The event will be live-streamed from the Cathedral. Please visit their YouTube page and click on LIVE events. https://www.youtube.com/@ChristChurchCathedralOttawa/streams.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Glebe Centre care home or a charity of your choice.
Digital Guestbook
Carrol Lunau
Rosanne Kang Jovanovski
My deepest condolences to Sarah, Margaret and Jennifer, and the rest of the family. I will fondly remember Barbara as an ever elegant, strong woman with gorgeous smiling eyes and charmingly warm laughter (that Sarah clearly inherited). Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute. Sending my love and prayers.
Joan Loveridge
Recalling with pleasure the ups and downs of being young Moms of school age children
together and with fond sympathy to Sarah,
Joan Loveridge
Katie Jaimet
What I remember most about Barbara Hicks (known to me as Sarah’s Mom) was the she went out to work. A Working Mom. Wow. What a strange, exotic, and impressive thing that was to me, a schoolgirl in the 1970s. I would go over to Sarah’s place after school and we would make ourselves Nestea and toast with peanut butter and her mom wasn’t there because she was At Work. And sometimes there was a basket of laundry in the laundry room that hadn’t been folded, or the dining room table was strewn with papers that hadn’t been tidied up and it was mysteriously and enthrallingly ok for the house not to be perfectly clean because Sarah’s Mom was At Work. Thank you Barbara for being a role model to me and to other future working moms and imperfect housekeepers. You were an inspiration.
My condolences to Barbara's children. She was a special person. I first met her when I worked at the National Library and reconnected when we both joined the Board of the Friends of Library and Archives Canada. I enjoyed meeting Barbara for coffee occasionally in Old Ottawa East or the Glebe and catching up.