Author Bio
William R. (Bill) Barry was born on May 27, 1942 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He received his primary and secondary education in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Barry earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Regina.
Barry was employed in a variety of positions during his professional career, as follows: teacher at Balfour Technical School in Regina (1967-1969); vice-principal in Star City (1969-1972); Assistant Superintendent for the Long Lake School Unit in Watrous (1972-1978); Director of Education for the Shamrock School Division in Foam Lake (1978-1982); civil servant in Regina (1982-1993); and health care consultant (1993-1997).
Bill Barry, circa 1997.
In 1997, Barry embarked on a career in writing and publishing. He is the author of several publications on Saskatchewan place names, including “People Places: Saskatchewan and its Names” (1997); “People Places: The Dictionary of Saskatchewan Place Names” (1998); “People Places Cookbook” (2000); “Ukrainian People Places” (2001); “People Places: Contemporary Saskatchewan Place Names” (2003); “Age Shall Not Weary Them” (2005) and “Geographical Names of Saskatchewan” (2005). Barry also served as assistant editor of the “Atlas of Saskatchewan” (1999). A frequent contributor to radio and television programs, Barry was president of People Places Publishing Inc., a publishing company that was incorporated in September 1992 and dissolved in January, 2012.
Bill Barry working with students to search the database of 11,000 names in the Virtual War Memorial, November 9, 2012.
Barry currently (2013) resides in Regina, where he continues to serve as webmaster for SVWM.ca (Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial). Source: Saskatchewan Archival Information Network (SAIN)
Those of us that are working on the war memorial committee, you know we’re not going to be around much longer and if we don’t get these kids involved and interested and aware then they will be forgotten and that will be a tragedy. — Bill Barry
Bill Barry addressing the media at the launch of the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial in 2012.
Note from Gravel Roads — As is customary for author pages, we’ve featured Mr. Barry’s biographical and publishing credentials. In November, a mere month away, look for a more personal profile of Bill in our Remembrance and Veteran’s Day post. Until then you can learn about one of his many other passions, Ukraine. Just click on our blog’s search icon located at the top, right-hand side of any page, enter his name and most assuredly, you will not be disappointed.
