Barbara Kitney, resident pianist/baritone player of Jubilee Brass, is enjoying in retirement what she calls a “permanent full-time position of service.

Due to shift work as an RN she found herself, for many years, in “permanent part-time positions of ministry and service”.

Her nursing career ended in Orillia Ontario in 2008 after 27 years of caring for the developmentally delayed in the Huronia Regional Centre. From 2003 to her retirement she accompanied the Ontario Provincial Police Chorus based in Orillia and played baritone in the Orillia Wind Ensemble. She maintains her connection with the Chorus on an ‘as needed’ basis and has now become associated in a similar capacity with the Waterloo Regional Police Male Chorus in her hometown of Waterloo. In addition to her piano and baritone work she has also played percussion with the Waterloo Concert Band. In her music making with these aforementioned groups she has had wonderful opportunities for witnessing for her Lord

Barbara was the first born in a family of three. As a child she remembers identifying with a book entitled “Odd” She was the odd number as mom and dad were a pair and twin brothers Donald and David were a pair. In spite of this she was always loved and made to feel special. Mom and Dad budgeted for music lessons for her and arranged  schedules to allow her to spend 5 days out of 7 at ‘The Army’.

When Barbara was ten years old her uncle Arthur Wombwell, the Sunday School Superintendent and acting Bandmaster, decided she should put her musical abilities to work on the piano playing for the songs sung in Sunday school. She soon learned to play ‘by ear’ for songs which had no printed music. Arthur also had her playing for the Singing Company and encouraged her to attend music camps. Many happy summers were enjoyed in Canadian camps and as an honor student from Camp Selkirk she was able to attend Camp Lake, Wisconsin in the USA, the location of the Chicago Music Institute.

As a little girl, before she even started school, she wanted to be a nurse. Her love for her maternal grandmother influenced her desire to care for the sick. Grandma had sustained life threatening injuries in a car accident during World War two. Although she had been covered up for dead at the scene she survived until the age of 77. Because of the accident her grandmother faced many life changing  physical challenges. She was cared for by Barb’s mother who looked after her home as well as her own. This went on until her grandmother died. This long term involvement of her mother and herself caused her to become very sensitive to the needs of those who faced great physical and personal challenges. Barbara focused on nursing as a career choice all through public and high school to grade thirteen.

During those formative years while focusing on nursing she was also spending many hours in practicing the piano and in studying music theory. She continued to be involved in music activities in both church and school. During her grade thirteen the school had a very gifted musician by the name of Lorne Willits on staff teaching music. Lorne, in collaboration with her piano teacher Bessie Job, encouraged her to pursue a career in music. With her grade 10 piano certificate and theory certificates for grades two through five already in place she began to investigate those possibilities. As her final exams for grade thirteen approached she had arrangements in place to begin studying music at the University of Western Ontario the following September. On reflection she believes that the Lord had other plans as, during study week prior to exams, an illness of a family friend caused her to rethink the plans for music. She frantically applied to ten schools of nursing in an effort to be accepted for the fall semester. St. Joseph’s school of Nursing in Guelph, Ontario was the only school that still had an opening.

While laying the foundation for her nursing career in Guelph she continued her music ministry by singing the alto part in “The King’s Trio” which traveled throughout Ontario and New York State. She also doubled as their accompanist.

In the year 1982 as a 13 year graduate nurse she, her husband and a young son returned from a year and a half in British Columbia to Listowel, Ontario where she began work at a centre for the developmentally delayed. She worked between Palmerston and Listowel as a teacher’s assistant. She later joined the nursing staff at the Midwestern Regional Centre transferring in 1998 to the nursing department at the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia until 2008.

Barbara says that her 27 years of caring for the developmentally delayed was not without its challenges, but it also offered many rewards. She came to appreciate the simple faith of some of those special people as well as realizing how very blessed she was to be a care-giver. Not only did she learn from her clients but she also met and worked with many very special people who also found themselves as care-givers to a population that couldn’t always articulate their problems. Many times over the year she found herself asking for God’s guidance when she was trying to figure out what might be wrong with a non-verbal client. Sometimes God provided the gift of comfort for them using a quiet song she would sing to them when they were restless.

Barbara continues to make wonderful music and is a valued member of Jubilee Brass.