Barry was born in Lismore and was the 5th child of Frank and Dorry Griffin (nee Thorley).
He started his schooling at Wongavale/Jiggi, Coopers Creek and his high school years were spent at Marist Brothers and Woodlawn.
Barry grew up farming the family’s banana plantation at Coopers Creek and worked the land with his brothers and his dad Frank.

In his adult life he went north to Murwillumbah and Tweed before heading south to Sydney where he drove buses for Hunters Hill and Deans Coaches. He also had his own business ‘Handymans Carrying Service’; cleaning, lawn-mowing, removals and general care-taking with his daughters and the Bezett boys: Russell, Allan and Glen. Russell wasn’t allowed to call dad Barry and didn’t want to call him Mr Griffin, so dad became Buzzy Buzz Bar and that stuck with him always.
Dad married Kathleen Kelly in Bingara NSW on April 1st 1967. They returned to Sydney and had 4 children: Karen 1968, myself Helen 1970, Andrew (dec) 1971 and Joanne in 1974. We were going to make a move out to St. Clare near Penrith, but the morning Mum and Dad were going to sign the contracts, he woke up and called us all into the bedroom and told us we were moving back up to Lismore. All us kids were distraught and threatening to move in with our friends and stay in Sydney, but in 1982 with tears in our eyes we were packed up and moved north to Wollongbar/Alstonville and surrounds. Now, as an adult, I can look back and say with great pride that that was the smartest move Dad ever made. It took Dad a while to settle back into things, he managed some properties, cattle and fencing etc. then found his calling and went into security until his retirement.

Since returning to Lismore Dad loved the Rural Fire Service and was a very active member until his health gave in.
Mum and Dad followed us out to Dunoon in 1999, and the following eulogy was given by family friend Bernie Ramsay at Dad’s funeral at the Catholic Church Dunoon on Friday 22/8/08:

While Barry would have been known to a number of locals before moving to Dunoon in 1999, I was the Post Office Licensee and he would call everyday to collect the mail. Being a small village, we don’t have mail deliveries and he just enjoyed the opportunity for a chat. More often than not, he would have no mail to collect, but he would come everyday, rain, hail or shine.
Occasionally I would see him pull up at the old PO and I would call out to him “no mail today Barry”, but he would still wander in for a chat if no one was waiting. I finally got the message and didn’t call out anymore and then he would jokingly say “Why didn’t you tell me? You could have saved me a walk!”
Barry got involved with Dunoon very quickly after his arrival. He had been involved with the Rural Fire Service for many years and as I’m sure others will mention, he was very proud of his involvement with the RFS - especially when he would take the fire truck to Lismore for regular inspection and maintenance or got to the local schools for fire safety week. He would always come into the PO after such events in his overalls or uniform and be as proud as punch relating the day’s activities.
I was on the Hall committee and asked Barry to come along to an AGM and he accepted the position of Vice President. After that he was very involved in many aspects of the hall and would often be seen down there doing some little bit of maintenance or making sure it was securely locked or whatever. Although I must say that whenever we needed to call a Hall meeting, the first thing Barry would do is check in his little pocket diary to ensure it was not a Fire Brigade night.
He and Kath were very involved with the Euchre club and kept the night going for many years and this raised quite a sum of  money for the hall – especially at the Christmas Euchre night that he and Kath put a tremendous effort into. It is interesting to note that once Barry got too sick to run the show, the regular Thursday night social event folded but hopefully someone will take up the reins again which I know Barry would like.
Barry also instigated the table tennis at the hall after attending the Lismore RSL closing-down auction. It was always a bit of a worry Barry going to auctions or garage sales because you just didn’t know what bargains he would find. Well, he did get a bargain because he got three large table tennis tables for free! The fact that they each weighed half a tone didn’t matter to Barry, because he was very keen to get the village kids involved in a regular table tennis competition. This he achieved for quite a considerable period of time until his health gave out on him.
When Barry took over the role of Hall President a few years later, he also took over the role of cleaner and lawn mower man – which he took very seriously, and treated the whole show as his own. He would often get upset when he found foreign garbage in the Hall bin, and he had me make a sign warning people off using the bin for anything else but Hall rubbish! I’m not sure if it did any good, but it made him feel better.
You would often see Barry going from his home to the hall on his ride on mower, especially after he got the little red trailer on the back of the mower. I think he just liked the fun of riding down the main street because he seemed to make more trips than was needed just to mow the lawn.
Another role Barry readily took on was BBQ chef for many local sporting events. He would willingly help out at Little As, soccer and other events, but claimed ownership of the Village Green Cricket competition BBQ sessions. He got a great deal of pleasure of cooking snags and keeping a good supply of appropriate beverages at the ready to quench the thirst of those keen Village cricketers. I’m not sure how good the cricket was, or for that matter the snags at the end of the day, but he even did a course on the responsible service of alcohol so the cricketers could continue to enjoy the social aspects of the game.
As a Director of the Dunoon Sports and Recreational Club he took the club security very seriously. If the alarm went off in the early hours of the morning, which you could hear from our home, you could be sure you would then hear Barry’s truck drive past not long after on his way to investigate the disturbance.
Barry made this community his community and was proud to be involved in many different ways. Volunteers who put up their hands to be counted like Barry are hard to find and he will be missed.
Thank you Bazzar for all you did.

We, Barry’s family, would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Lismore Base Hospital, Drs Singh and Ette and their staff. The Parish of Terania, Dunoon Hall Committee and the whole of the Dunoon community for their love and care and helping Dad when he journeyed slowly on the street.
A big heartfelt thanks to Bernie Ramsay, Julie Ferronato, Brian Tarlinton and Dunoon Sports Club, Ross McDougall and the Dunoon Fire Service for making the days since dad’s passing a little more easy to see the sun. It was a tremendous weight off our shoulders.
All the beautiful flowers, cooking and cards, phone calls and visits have been a great comfort to us all.
Thanks to all from his wife Kathy, daughters and families: Karen and Paul, Megan, Jennifer, Mathew, Katerina Napper (Sydney), Helen and David, Andrew, Jason and Brendan Wallace (Dunoon), Joanne and Michael, Eligh and Amelia Murphy (Gold Coast).
Brother and brother-in-law to Nola and Kevin Price (both dec), Colleen and Leon Zietch (Wollongong), Paul and Peggy Griffin (Albury), Darcey and Jan (dec) Griffin (Lismore), Verelle and Des Martin (Ballina), Christine McNall (Lismore) and uncle and great uncle to their families.
Helen Wallace
Daughter