Barbara was born Barbara Ellen Du Vall on May 4th, 1945 in Newmarket, Ontario.  As a child she excelled at swimming and was a lifeguard and swimming instructor when she was a teenager.   She also was an excellent figure skating.  Her nickname "Bunny" was given to her at an early age as she loved to jump and hop all over the ice when she was figure skating. The name has stuck with her for her entire life and most of you know her fondly as Bunny.  She spent the majority of her summers at the family cottage on Haliburton lake where she excelled at water skiing, canoeing, boating and sailing.  When she became a teenager she worked at the store on Haliburton Lake and taught swimming lessons at the public beach.  

 

   After graduating from high school with honours,  she completed a 3 year Registered Nursing program graduating in 1967. She worked as an R.N. at York County hospital in Newmarket. Through mutual friends she met Ron Van Ast and they quickly fell in love.  They were married on September 12, 1969.  They lived in the Newmarket area for several years and had a baby girl together on November 6, 1972.  They named her Heidi. 

 

   Ron and Bunny wanted to live in the country and out of the busy city so they moved east of Peterborough to a century home just north of the town of Keene.  Bunny was hired by Peterborough Civic Hospital and worked there as a an R.N. and Ron began working for Sears as a Security Manager.  Four years later in 1978, while Bunny was pregnant with their son, they moved again to a working dairy farm that was just west of Norwood.  Ron and Bunny became Dairy farmers while Bunny continued to work at the hospital as a nurse.  Matthew Roeland was born on May 29, 1978.

  They operated the Dairy farm until 1992 and then moved to Bridgenorth to a property next to Pigeon Lake.  Bunny worked in several different departments of the hospital including the Emergency and Labour and Delivery units.   In 2001, Ron and Bunny settled just outside of the town of Bobcaygeon where they enjoyed being close to nature on a large forest property.  

  Bunny's spirituality was inspired by nature and she always noticed and appreciated the 'little things' in life.  She found peace enjoying the beauty of their forest property.  She cared deeply for and was always concerned about family and friends.  Her loss cannot be put into words and she is missed so much already.... The following poem suits her as she believed in the afterlife and was very connected to nature.

Do not stand by my grave and weep, 

I am not there.  I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sun on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there, I did not die.