Gunther Joseph Barwig

OCTOBER 8TH, 1955 - OCTOBER 16TH, 2020

Gunther Joseph Barwig passed away on October 16, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Bette. Gunther was a devoted family person and leaves behind his brother Billy Barwig and beloved daughters Maria, Michelle (Reid), and Jessica. This tightly connected family was with him to the very end. His strength and passion for his family and work became even more apparent as he fought so very hard and even worked right up to the end.

Gunther was born and raised in East Vancouver to Austrian/Czech immigrants, Maria and Wilhelm Barwig. He attended Gladstone High School where he was known as a bit of a street fighter. He met his wife in Burnaby at a Valentine’s Day dance and they got married on April 14, 1984. Soon, they had 3 beautiful girls.

Through his daughter’s, Gunther became very passionate about the game of softball. He dedicated much of his life outside of work coaching. He taught all three daughters from t-ball to mini mites, to senior women’s. It was common for Gunther to take time to travel throughout British Columbia to attend tournaments. Like work, he dedicated himself to learning the game of softball and coaching. Gunther’s dedication to coaching and to helping his family with great academic achievements contributed to Maria and Michelle getting full-time scholarships in Iowa and Mississippi. Jessica decided to stay close to home where he coached her senior woman’s team. After all three girls were done playing, he continued coaching the next generation of female softball. He finally hung up his cleats to play with his grandkids, where we all know he would have been excited to coach them when they got older.

Many can attest to Gunther’s passion for collecting clocks, watches, and his pens. His daughters can corroborate the fact that no one was allowed to touch his pens without permission. As an inside joke, we felt that every Christmas, Gunther would single handedly be able to keep the Vancouver Pen Shop in business—a frequent outing that we will miss tremendously.

Gunther helped others believe in themselves, as well as making people laugh, he had such a great laugh. He was a man of great knowledge and his advice always had the best intentions to help others find their success. You may not have liked it but it was always sound advice.

He leaves behind many treasured friends and family who will remember his inner strength, joy of family, tireless work ethic, and his love of classic rock playing on Saturday morning while making breakfast for his family. And so, we should remember Gunther as someone, who in the words of John Lennon, wanted a loving and cohesive world to “Come Together” and “someday you will join us and the world will be as one.”

The family would love to hear stories, quotes, and or pictures that you may have of Gunther or if you remember his famous saying we would love to reminisce and hear them.

~Water off a ducks back

~Stick and Stay and make it pay

~Do it right the first time

~It’s how you say it its how people perceive it