Henry, our beloved husband, father, grand-father and great-grandfather, passed away at the Bethesda Hospital on September 24, 2009 at approximately 2:35 p.m. Henry is survived by his wife Mary, his children, Dennis (Beverly), Ron (Lynn), Diana, Arley (Linda), Bella (Royce), Eileen (Elmer), Dale (Alice), 31 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. He is also survived by two sisters, Lena Barkman and Tina Dueck and brother John’s wife Winnie, as well as numerous in-laws, nieces and nephews. He was pre-deceased by his parents, his parents-in-law, four brothers and five sisters, three grandchildren and one great grandchild. Henry was born May 22, 1915 in Blumenort, MB to Jacob and Margaret Barkman. He started farming with his dad at an early age. Henry was baptized at the Blumenort EMC Church on July 14, 1935. Henry married his life long sweetheart, Mary on October 26, 1941. They would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary this October. He was called to go to CO Camp during WWII but had a hernia so he was exempt. A year after their marriage, mom and dad went on a late honeymoon to Clear Lake where they visited friends and relatives at the CO Camp. Mom and dad moved to the farm in the Ridgewood area in April 1958. Dad was quite a handyman and in those early years of farming, if the farm did not have the needed tools, he would build or invent his own. Times were sometimes quite tough trying to make it on the farm and dad would try to earn extra cash by taking his boys to cut lumber in the bush in Hadashville. Dad enjoyed driving around and seeing the countryside. I think all of us children can remember some of those drives. He also loved to talk about his younger years and growing up on his dad’s farm. On one of these drives, he took his three oldest children and drove to Maryfield to see where some of his friends had moved. They had an accident on the way home and dad suffered from a sore shoulder for years after. Mom and dad moved off the farm to Blumenort in 1974. He got a job at EG Penner and really enjoyed his odd jobs there: driving their delivery truck all over the countryside. During this time he developed a huge woodworking hobby and also spent many hours helping mom with her big garden, reading, puzzling and riding his bike. Dad felt many times that he hadn’t had enough time for his children and he tried to make up for this time by spending a lot of time playing with his grandchildren. In 1998 mom and dad sold their house in Blumenort and moved to a duplex in Steinbach. In the spring of 2009, dad moved into Woodhaven Manor to be closer to mom who had moved into Rest Haven earlier. During the last couple of months, dad spent his days trying to take the best care of mom as he possibly could, even though they did not live together. Dad missed mom tremendously and their love for each other was a wonderful blessing to all of us and the people that they came into contact with. Dad’s funeral service will be held Monday, September 28, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. at the Ridgewood Church. The viewing was held Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 7 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel. Pastor Leanord Barkman and Chaplain Larry Hirst officiated. Burial at the Ridgewood Church immediately following the funeral service.