Ondre Barber (YG 1961)
27 October 2023
Old Scholar Noel Clark (YG 1961) recently contacted the Old Scholars' Association to ask if the OSA had any information about Ondre Barber (YG 1961). Ondre was not listed on the database and so there was no information which could be shared. Noel, however, remembered Ondre from school. He researched Ondre's life after leaving Friends'. Old Scholars will be saddened to hear that Ondre Barber died on 12th December 1998, aged 55. The following obituary has been put together from the information Noel Clark kindly provided:Ondre was born 16th February 1943, and was the husband of Sandra. The record shows that he is commemorated in North Ryde Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, North Ryde, Sydney, New South Wales (North East Terrace Granite Book 3)."I remember Ondre because he and I, along with Kevin Bayliss (known as “Bay-Lye”) were always competing academically – “BBC” – “Barber, Bayliss, Clark.” Such is the trivia that resurfaces with age!Ondre was the twin brother of Melanie Barber (YG 1961, deceased 2012). Barry Barber (YG 1951) on your database would have been their older brother (born January 1933), and he died in 2018 in Malvern, Worcestershire, but they had an older sister named Benita (born December 1934) and I’m a bit surprised she didn’t go Friends' (there is no record of Benita on our database). Benita married a Heinz Berg, but she died in 1983.I can find nothing further about Melanie's life at all I’m afraid." Ondre Barber was clealry a good swimmer at school because Noel confirmed that he was playing water polo for Ealing Swimming Club in the 1960s. Noel went onto write:"Our Ondre was definitely in Sydney by 1977, and the electoral roll for 1977 shows two entries – in one he’s not married, in the second he’s married to Sandra Barber. In 1980 Ondre still at the second address with his wife, in Chatswood, Sydney; he’s an actuary and she’s a pharmacist. I’d say they married in 1977, but in Australia the States have placed “closure period” on births, marriages and deaths."If Old Scholars have any further information on Ondre, Barry, Melanie or indeed Benita or any other Old Scholars who need to be added to the database or their deaths recorded, please contact fsswosa@gmail.com