M.P. Poole, B.A., B.D.

Maurice Phillip Poole was educated at St. John’s College in Winnipeg and ordained in the city’s St. Luke’s Church. Neither the 1983 article, or his obituary, mention where he was born, but it was likely in or near Winnipeg. From 1944 through 1949 Poole was based in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, Manitoba, after which he moved to Toronto to serve at St. Clement’s Anglican Church from 1949 to 1951.

He met Barbara Greey at St. Clement’s, where she taught Sunday School, and they soon married and would have three children. Barbara held a BA from Trinity College, taught at Shaw College in Toronto, and worked for the Anglican Church of Canada. She was also very active in the Girl Guide movement. In 1951, Maurice Poole was appointed Rector at All Saints Church in Peterborough, where he served until 1964, when he returned to Toronto to lead St. John’s.

Maurice Poole’s time at St. John’s began in December 1964, his ministry very much supported and supplemented by Barbara involvement with many aspects of parish life. Indeed, as her obituary noted (she died in 2015), “they shared the delights and challenges of ministry.” Many milestones in their children’s lives would be shared with St. John’s parishioners. Their eldest son, Phillip, would follow in his father’s footsteps and become an ordained minister. Maurice Poole would earn the additional title of Canon at St. James Cathedral in 1976, and he also served as Regional Dean of Toronto West.

Much could be written about the ups and downs and challenges St. John’s experienced during Canon Poole’s tenure, but it was clear that a major highlight was his leading, with Barbara, St. John’s centennial celebration as a parish in 1981. As was noted in the 1983 newsletter, “Who could forget the excitement and the spirit with which Maurice and Barbara entered into the activities – including dressing up in costumes of 100 years ago and driving with Archbishop Garnsworthy in a horse-drawn buggy!”

During his retirement, Canon Poole assisted at St. Thomas’ Bracebridge, St. Paul’s Lorne Park, and at St. Bride’s Clarkson. He also spent his summers in Muskoka where he led an annual “Service in the Bay” at Browning Island. He passed away peacefully in his Oakville home on October 12, 2004, in his 84th year.