Trail mates forever: Bucky and Buddy remembered
Bucky Barter and Buddy the dog were inseparable.
The Stephenville man and his canine companion spent countless hours together along the Walk-a-Ways trail looping around Ned’s Pond and Devil’s Pond.
While Buddy was the pet of family friend, Glenda White, Bucky and his wife Dolores often dog sit Buddy, a Yorkshire terrier, and took him for walks. There was no doubt that Bucky and Buddy shared a special bond.
“He would never go home with her (Glenda), Bucky would always have to bring him home,” Dolores, Bucky’s wife of 45 years, told West Coast Wire.
The two were so often seen together on the trail that Dolores says to this day many people mistake Buddy for their dog.
The bond they share is one that may very well extend beyond life. Sadly, Bucky passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 11, 2023 at the age of
70. Twelve-year-old Buddy, meanwhile, had developed diabetes six months earlier and was beginning to slow down.
For the next week, whenever Glenda would visit with Buddy he would look around for his human friend.
“He knew something was wrong and he knew Bucky wasn’t there,” recalled Dolores.
Six days after Bucky died, Glenda, Dolores and Dolores’ sister and brother-in-law left that evening for a walk with Buddy on the trail.
Dolores says Buddy never hesitated, running along and enjoying his routine. He returned home that night and was playing with his toys as if nothing was wrong.
The next morning, however, he couldn’t stand on his legs. Glenda rushed to take him to the vet but before she could get there, Buddy sadly passed away in her arms in the parking lot.
On Aug. 18, it was exactly one week to the day of Bucky’s passing. It’s a consolation for Dolores to think the two pals are reunited.
“We’d like to believe that they’re together now and Bucky whistled to him and called him, and he came,” she said. “Our hope and our belief is that they’re together walking the paths in heaven.”
The trail Bucky and Buddy frequented is managed by the Walk-a-Ways Parks and Trails Committee.
The committee added 200 metres of path out to a point overlooking Ned’s Pond earlier this year. When it came time to name it in October, they decided it would be called Bucky’s Point.
“He was somebody who was on the trail all the time. He kept me updated if there was any problems or anything happening with the animals or anything that was going on on the trail,” committee chair Paul Grenier told West Coast Wire.
“Because I didn’t get to walk it all the time and he did.”
He notes that Bucky was a popular person on the trail, talking to everybody who passed by.
If a tree blew over, he’d clean it up. If there was garbage or dog droppings on the trail, he’d clean that up too.
Dolores called having the point named after him “a great honour.”
“I was so happy and pleased,” she said. “There’s no one who spent any more time on those walking trails than him since the day it opened.”
On Bucky’s Point, one of two benches is dedicated to Bucky and Buddy. It was donated by family friends Sean and Renee Hickey.
In early November, Dolores had a nameplate added to the bench in memory of them both.
It reads, ‘In Loving Memory of Bucky Barter & Buddy. Trail Mates Forever – Aug. 23. Sit Awhile And Enjoy This Little Bit Of Heaven On Earth.’
REMEMBERING BUCKY
While he was born Leonard Barter, Dolores says her husband was only known as Bucky.
In fact, she had been dating him for years before she knew Leonard was his birthname.
The nickname was given to him by friends when he was about 12 years old. But neither she nor Bucky had any idea where it came from.
It turns out, nicknaming was something Bucky loved to do. He had a nickname for everyone, she says. For example, one friend he nicknamed “granny” because he was a little slow in his demeanour.
Bucky also loved pranks. He would hide keys, tie shoelaces together, stick tree limbs between windshield wipers of friends as well as other forms of tomfoolery.
Bucky grew up on Brook Street and even as a child would frequent the area around Ned’s Pond and Devil’s Pond. By the time they opened the trail in 2018, he had retired from his job at the mill. He immediately started frequenting the trail, which was just a five-minute walk from their home.
He was there at least once a day, sometimes upwards to three times a day.
“He loved the area and the pond maybe because it was close to home and it had some sentimental value to him,” said Dolores.
She adds that he was a chatter.
“If we met anybody at the pond, he had to stop to find out where they were from, give them all the lowdown on the pond,” she recalled. “He loved the trail. He thought it was a hidden gem in Stephenville.”