Margaret Florence Barnard

Born at home in Weymouth North to Margaret Alleyne (Starr) and Major Glidden Campbell, she went to a one-room school then to King's-Edgehill School.

She graduated from the University of King's College and worked as a reporter with the Halifax Herald during wartime. She always recalled seeing the war brides come off the Queen Mary and the glass on the floor at Birks after the VE Day Riots.

She interrupted her career to care for her dying mother and stayed in Weymouth for a year to run the house for father and brother Gordon. She moved to Toronto where she worked as a reporter for the Rural Co-operator.

She married Saint John native Murray Barnard in 1957, moving to Weymouth North to spend a memorable winter in a summer cottage with two infants, then to Saint John, N.B., settling in Halifax in the mid-1960s.

She assisted her husband in writing stories under many pseudonyms for the Nova Scotia Magazine, which he edited for the Nova Scotia government. She worked for many years at the Canadian Press, at one point running a house, taking her master's degree in English and working night shifts from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. She was alone making final checks one night when she learned of the tragic sinking of the Ocean Ranger. The Canadian Press newsroom won the Atlantic Journalism award for its coverage.

After retirement she was president of the Anglican Church Women, a writer for the Diocesan Times and an active member of the Canadian Federation of University Women right until the present. She received the Order of the Ancient Commoner from the University of King's College in recognition for her support as an alumna.

Quick to laugh, highly curious, amazingly generous and always more concerned about others than herself, she remains a tremendous role model to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews. A reporter at heart, she always had one more question that couldn't be answered.

She is survived by brother Ian Campbell (Shirley), of Connecticut; daughters Mary Fitzgerald (Keith), of Windsor, Ont., and Elissa Barnard (Bill Davidson), of Halifax, N.S.; grandchildren Tamara Ellis, Keith Florence and Miranda Davidson, great-grandchildren Kitana and Illiyanna. She was predeceased by brothers Gordon and John and niece Janet Campbell.

She was a longtime member of All Saints Cathedral, where her funeral will be Monday, 11 a.m., reception to follow. In lieu of flowers please donate to the University of King's College.