(20 April 1900-22 Oct. 1983), merchant. (Tuffy Barbara, Theo Barbara) Born at Rachya, Lebanon. Theo Barbara came to Canada with his father, Michael George Barbara, in 1910. After a year in Montreal, the elder Barbara opened a general store in Alexandria. Theo Barbara, who had attended a French-language school in Montreal, afterwards attended the Alexandria Public School. When the elder Barbara returned to Lebanon to live in 1921, Theo Barbara bought out his interest in the store, which in later years, withdrawing from the general merchandise trade, he converted to a men’s wear and footwear store. In 1964 he passed the operation of the store on to his son Michael (Mike) Barbara (d. 2 Nov. 2008, aged 74), who operated it, one of the longest-established businesses on Main Street, Alexandria, till he sold it in the fall of 2002, the name at the time of sale being Barbara’s Men’s Wear. After a period in Montreal following retirement Theo Barbara and his wife returned to Alexandria in 1979. He died at the Glengarry Memorial Hospital. He was married on 2 Feb. 1933, in Windsor, Ont., to Agia Mary Ghantous, of Detroit, who was born 15 Aug. 1909 in Lebanon, and who died 28 April 2000, at the Community Nursing Home, Alexandria. (four children).Theo Barbara was a mason. The Barbaras are closely related to the well-known Canadian singer Paul Anka.

     Theo Barbara’s brother, George Barbara, with financial support from Theo, established the Alexandria Glove Works in the spring of 1937, and operated it till 1954 or 1955. A welcome venture in an Alexandria hard hit by the Depression, by July 1937 the company was producing about 25 pair of gloves or mitts per day. In 1953 it is said to have accounted for one-eighth of the Canadian production of slippers.

Glengarry News 26 Oct. 1983 * private information * Ostrom 85, 101 * Rayside: index * obituary of his wife, GN 3 May 2000 * Alexandria Glove Works: GN 16 April & 9 July 1937, 7 April 1955; brief desc. of the factory in Fred Inglis’ four-part article on Alexandria (“Valley Towns” series) Ottawa Citizen 4-7 June 1952; MacGillivray & Ross 526, 549; Marin 216 * two detailed informative obituaries of Mike Barbara, GN 5 Nov. 2008 with portraits