LARRY EDWARD SPENCER

With heavy hearts, we announce that Larry passed away on December 7th peacefully in his home at the age of 66 years.

He survived by his wife of 45 years (Cathy); children Jeff (Christie), Jeremy (Jolin), Ashley (Ian); grandchildren Austin, Kendall, Norah, Clark, Jordyn, Riley; siblings; Bob, Deb, Don, Dianne, Barry; extended family and friends.

Larry split his formative years growing up in Winnipeg and Brandon, the oldest of six kids.  He spent his teenage years in Brandon where many friendships were formed, and stories established about his carefree approach to life.  As an adult, he was incredibly hard working and prioritized his family responsibilities above all, but always had a spot for fun in him.  Brandon was where he met Cathy - together they raised three children, and in recent years, six grandchildren whom he enjoyed seeing at every opportunity.

Upon getting married and buying their lifelong house in Winnipeg in the mid-70s, Larry established himself as a highly skilled heavy-duty mechanic and worked building and servicing mining drills with Cubex – a company he worked with for over 30 years. This work brought him all over the world including multiple six-week long visits in Ghana, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and almost every mining operation in North America.  Cubex Mining Division was acquired in 2013 by Sandvik and he retired shortly afterwards.

Larry always had a passion for minor hockey in Winnipeg and spent several years in the 80s and early 90s volunteering as a coach, convenor, ice coordinator and board member with both the Lord Roberts Community Center and the Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins organization.  He loved watching his kids play hockey and even more so, his grandkids over the last several years.   When watching games, he could usually be found alone in the corner of the rink – not one to get loud, mix in with the crowd or get overly excited, he always preferred to watch alone and cheer in his own quiet way (most of the time).

His other happy place was at Debonair Campground near St. Malo, MB.  A seasonal vacation spot that he and Cathy shared for over 25 years.  Together they built and upgraded a great summer getaway.  He enjoyed nothing more than having the kids and grandkids spend time or have sleepovers there with him.  From swimming in the pond, late night campfires and s’mores, playing in the park or just sitting outside watching the birds and chipmunks, many memories were made with the entire family there.  He also built many lasting friendships at Debonair - you would be hard pressed to find anyone as eager for the season to begin to spend weekends with those friends.  During the winter he would often find excuses to drive out to “check in on things” – even without a soul in sight, he enjoyed the escape that his place at Debonair brought him.  When cancer treatments stopped last spring, his goal was to enjoy another summer with Cathy and their friends – he far exceeded this and even got up close and personal with a few black bears “just to get a better photo”.  

Those who were close to Larry are well aware that, while he often guarded showing it, he had a soft and kind heart.  His immediate family all remember one particular Christmas we spent at our house on Rosedale in the 90s.  Larry had found out that an elderly neighbor a few doors down was spending Christmas dinner on her own.  He walked over to her house and wouldn’t take no for an answer when he asked her to join us for dinner.  After a great Christmas dinner he proceeded to walk Mrs. Wimmer home and she proudly requested that they ‘walk slow so the neighbourhood could see her walking with a young man’.  Just one of many examples of his kind-heart and the welcoming home that he always kept.

Usually deemed a negative trait, being stubborn was something Larry embraced.  He had ‘his way’ on how he liked things done.  This stubbornness also translated to determination – when he decided it was time for ‘his way’ he accomplished and beat many obstacles life gave him.  He approached his second diagnosis the same way.  He fought with amazing strength the past couple of years through multiple treatments and always held hope he could beat it as he did in the past.  He continued to fight right until the end and spent his last days with family by his side before peacefully deciding it was ‘his way’ to go in his sleep.

Larry’s family would like to express their sincere thanks to the team at Cancer Care MB and Palliative Care for their support and assistance over the past several months. Specifically, they would like to thank Lisa from Palliative Care for her support during Larry’s final weeks at home

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In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to either CancerCare MB or KidSport.

Cremation has taken place and celebration of life will be held at a later date.

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