Adam Mendes

It is with extreme sadness that we announce the passing of our son and brother Adam (Paul) Mendes. He passed away unexpectedly at his apartment February 26th, 2010 in St. Catherine's Ontario while attending Niagara College in Welland. Adam was born January 31st, 1985 in Thunder Bay where he remained until his graduation from St. Patrick's High School. Through the early years he was an avid sportsman and loved to play hockey on various teams where he played as a goalie. Later on he became obsessed with soccer in which he excelled and played on various indoor and outdoor teams including the Lakehead Express Team. He was an avid soccer fan and loved to follow the exploits of his favourite soccer team "Benfica" in Portugal. He was also affiliated with, and one of the original Northwood OWLZ. He was extremely social and loved all sorts of sports activities, fishing trips and the good times with his many friends. His sense of humour and jovial attitude always made everyone smile. Following high school he was bitten by the travel bug and began a lengthy backpacking journey, which took him through many amazing adventures and countries. His first journey he started alone (and scared) in England and worked his way through Scotland, France, Germany, Slovakia, and Portugal building his confidence up every step of the way. While on this trip he made some very good friends and when he returned to Canada it made him long to return to Europe. In short order he left us a note saying "Gone 2 England" and got back on a plane headed to the UK where he worked for a time to finance his trip to Denmark to catch up with his friends. He lived and worked in Denmark with his California and Danish friends, and then onto Spain and his most memorable trip to Iceland with his excellent friend J.J. (Brock) Burns. He continued onto Australia and New Zealand and then back to Denmark. Throughout his travels he always made friends easily and managed to always attract the very best who helped him along his journeys. On one of his returns to Canada he met Andrea who became a very special person in his life in Toronto where he remained for a while, and then moved onwards again to Australia. Adam returned from Australia late last year and under the wings of his Guardian Angels in Oshawa (Glenn & Suzanne Williams) began a new phase in his life at Niagara College in January. He was an avid reader and loved to write so he wanted to leverage his skills into a course in Journalism and began the 1st year in January 2010. In the past few years he has seen more places and had more experiences than most people have in a lifetime and that was very important to him. On his latest and longest journey, Adam will be sadly missed by his Mom, Dad, Brother and all of his family, his special family in Oshawa (and Australia), and his many friends in many countries. Adam is survived by his mother Susan, father Carlos, brother Andrew, grandparents Irene and Fernando, Uncle Jim and Aunt Jackie, Aunt Ronda, Godparents Ted and Pat (Holseth) and many cousins and relatives. He was predeceased by his Grandpa and Grandma Walt & Mary McDonald, Uncle Mike, Aunt Anne & Uncle Kerry, Aunt Bella, and his "bud" and fellow traveller J.J. (Brock) who he is meeting up with. Funeral Service will be held at Jenkens Funeral Home on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. followed by a reception. Interment will be held at a later date in Providence Bay Cemetery (Manitoulin Island). If friends so wish, donations can be made to The Confederation College Foundation (c/o The Learning Café) or on-line at www.confederationc.on.ca/foundation or to the SAFE Fund Niagara College. On line condolences at: www.jenkens-funeral.ca JENKENS FUNERAL HOME CREMATION AND RECEPTION CENTRE (807) 623-3433"