BARRACK, Mary Elizabeth Jane - A fierce and loving matriarch, a pragmatist to her core, a loyal friend, a steadfast wife and daughter, a compassionate caregiver and a life longer learner.
Mary was born on July 16, 1928 in Toronto to Jack Radey and Rita Young.
Jack developed a Parkinson type syndrome when Mary Jane was two and convalesced for the rest of his short life in the flat on the second floor of what is now Rebel House at Yonge and Roxborough. Her father passed when she was nine. The rest of her childhood, with her single working mom in the 30s and 40s, was formative. Her strength in those years and for the balance of her life came from a strong Catholic faith.
In 1947, as she was about to enter the nursing program at St. Joseph’s Hospital, she met the love of her life – Bill Barrack. They long distance courted during her nursing training. He hosted a radio program in Niagara Falls and she worked six and a half days a week in nursing training. She graduated at the top of her class and turned down a graduate scholarship to devote herself to raising a family.
Two children followed in short order, Lynne then Mike. Eleven years later, John arrived as a joyful surprise.
Bill and Mary Jane loved intensely. They were committed to their faith and their family and shared their passion for films and long, spontaneous road trips. Tragically, at age 49, Bill succumbed to a sudden heart attack. Mary Jane was now the single mom who was forced to return to the nursing profession that she had never fully engaged in. Astutely observing that geriatrics would be the wave of the future in health care, she retrained and worked her way to University Avenue. She had a seventeen-year outstanding career as a compassionate nurse administering a broad range of care, and continued following her retirement to serve as a volunteer in palliative care settings, seeing it as a privilege to be present at the end of life.
Her retirement years were among her best. She had time to spend with her six grandsons, to deepen her faith and to volunteer assisting the most vulnerable, including working to put an end to human trafficking.
She will be greatly missed by Lynne St. David and Norman Jewison, Michael and Andrea Barrack and John Barrack and Julia Schatz, together with Mike’s sons, Radey, Tyler and Brendan and John’s sons, Liam, Michael and Luke.
A special thanks to those that supported her – her parish family at Our Lady of Lourdes, especially the late Father Bill Addley, the numerous caregivers who assisted her at home in her later years, Dr. Claire Murphy, an outstanding family physician, several physicians at St. Michael’s Hospital together with the ACE Unit, especially nurse practitioner Lee Barrett and the outstanding palliative care team – Sheila, Slav, Brigitte and Penny – you are remarkable.
Please honour her in your own way but if you feel compelled to donate, she would appreciate donations to Our Lady of Lourdes Food Bank or the hospice of your choice.
Visitation will be on Monday July 22 from 7-9 PM at Morley Bedford Funeral Home, Toronto. W. A funeral mass will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 520 Sherbourne St. at 10:00 AM on Tuesday July 23rd.
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