BARRY’S BAY – Dr. Joseph Benedict Cybulski was born during a time when children died from easy to treat illnesses. He distinctly remembers attending funerals of babies and young children. “I don’t know what they died from, but when I got older I found out,” Cybulski, commonly known as Dr. Joe to his patients, recalls. “Simple things like a ruptured appendix or pneumonia that wasn’t treated in a small kid.” If it had not been for his determined father and a physician from a nearby community, it is quite likely Dr. Cybulski would have met a similar fate. Dr. Cybulski was born March 19, 1944, also referred to as St. Joseph’s Day, a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics. A midwife helped bring him into the world on Dunn Street in Barry’s Bay. His parents were the late Andrew and Rose Cybulski. He grew up with one sister, Helen, now a retired legal secretary who today lives across the field from Dr. Cybulski’s home. “We were just splitting wood this morning,” he smiles. When he was three years old, he moved to a 400-acre property on Cybulski Road with his family. They raised cattle, pigs and chickens. “Life was simple yet always exciting,” he says, speaking from his home located on those very grounds where he spent his early years. “You didn’t need any toys, you didn’t need any internet or iPad or cellphones.” To the outside world, it seemed like Dr. Cybulski’s future was destined for the farm. He even had everything planned out. He was going to quit school after Grade 8, as many did during those times, and become a farmer. Fate had other plans. To read the full story, pick up a copy of the October 3, 2018 Valley Gazette.