Popular Wagga busker and former Air Force teacher Barry Francis passed away on November 1, aged 73, after a long battle with heart problems.
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Born on February 21 1947 in the Lockyer Valley, Barry spent much of his childhood in Brisbane, a brother to Wendy and Peter.
Barry attended Methodist Church Sunday School at Enoggera every Sunday, and played for the church cricket team in a cow paddock with a concrete pitch at one end and a gully at the other.
As a child Barry loved helping his mother cook, and often spoke of the fabulous aromas of the kitchen where he learned to pluck, stuff and cook their own chickens.
He attended Mitchelton State High School until year 10 and was Vice Captain of the junior cricket team.
When he passed the junior public exam his parents gifted him his first guitar, sparking a lifetime love.
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At the time he was a Sunday School teacher, and his mother hoped he would become a Methodist Minister.
This was not to be, and Barry soon become somewhat of a 'black sheep' of the family according to his parents, discovering a love of ales, smokes and hanging out where some of the Catholic girls gathered - the pub.
Around this time he formed a singing group with a few friends, known as 'The Proverbs'.
He left home at 24 three years after completing an apprenticeship in fitting, turning and welding, working at various jobs around Queensland and taking up Rugby Union for Easts in Brisbane from age 29, playing into his late 30s.
In 1978, Barry met a Catholic girl at a pub, and in October of the next year he and Chris were married.
Barry then joined the Royal Australian Air Force where he served across Australia for nearly 15 years, during which time his children Matthew and Kathryn were born.
He now has two grandchildren from Kathryn's marriage to Adrian.
In 1994, the family arrived in Wagga on a RAAF posting.
From there Barry joined TAFE at the RAAF School of Technical Training as an electronics and radio communications instructor and remained there until retiring in 2013, despite a major heart attack in 1998 when he was told he would likely never work again.
It was during his recuperation that he began to play the guitar again, and he soon began playing at garage parties for his friends.
Over the past few years Barry has been busking along the main street of Wagga, and has raised approximately $17,000 for local charities through his music, releasing a CD called 'Songs of the Street'.
A keen Rotarian since 2005, Barry was president of the Wagga branch from 2011-2012, received a Paul Harris Fellowship in 2012 and finally a sapphire pin in 2016.