Brian Thomas Landry

If you knew Brian, you know he was born in Montreal, in 1947. He insisted that there was a circus across the street that day and he watched as elephants were led to the big top from his crib. Although the story seems suspicious for various reasons, he stuck by it and thus the humour of Brian Landry was born. He grew up in working class Ville ?mard with loving parents Hector and Nellie and five siblings Roy, Patricia, Joan, Lorna and Lorne. He always said that, although his parents never had much, it never occurred to him that he needed anything else. In his early teens, stout Brian blossomed to the 6'4 gentle giant we all came to know as Big B. He met the love of his life, Sandra Rafters in 1965 at a party and two years later they were married. The job prospects were dry in Quebec and so Brian and Sandi left for Toronto where they quickly found out, nobody went out after work, the lights were out at 11pm and the city limits seemed to stretch forever across the 401. Brian settled in at Bell Canada where he worked until retirement. He took on union rep and health and safety roles, garnering many new friendships and the odd malcontent. They eventually moved to a small but rapidly growing farm town called Brampton where they had their two sons, Jeff and Greg. Brian enjoyed time with his sons and saw all the potential in them as well as their friends who he welcomed to his house with open arms just like his mother Nellie would have done. He later welcomed daughter in laws Sara and Julianne to the family and was overjoyed with the extra voices in the never-ending family dinner arguments. Brian was a teacher of life skills and was willing to help anyone in need regardless of whether payback was ever likely. After retirement, Brian moved with Sandi to Wasaga Beach where they welcomed their recently born grandson Padraic. Brian and Paddy could be found at ice cream shops, arenas, spending time staring at goalie equipment and travelling across provinces and states together. As grandchildren Tristan and Kaiden were added to the mix, Brian and Sandi moved back south to spend more time with them at their family events, soccer games and letting them break all the rules when mom and dad were out of the house. When his fourth grandson Grayson arrived, he was magnetically attracted to Big B, announcing his arrival at the house to all who would listen and dodging Nana to get straight to Papa. Sadly, their friendship was destined to be a short one as complications from cancer surgery, which he did officially beat, slowly won the war on life. Not a man who was meant to waste in a hospital bed, he fought to return to his family valiantly. Unfortunately, Brian's story has come to an end. That being said, he would ask you carry on his legacy with a few simple wishes. Be kind to each other, help each other and throw down as many dad jokes in a day as possible.