There is no deeper sadness than to announce the passing of our beloved father Allan William Drein (Big Al) on Thursday April 2nd, 2020 at Burnaby General Hospital after complications from a few falls.
Allan was born in Seven Sisters Falls, Manitoba on December 22nd, 1940 to his parents William (Bill) and Elsie Drein.
Our dad leaves behind his treasured sister Eileen Harrison, his dearly loved children, son Darren, daughter Cindy (Cross), son-in- law Len Kapasky, his cherished grandchildren Rhett, Gage, Tiara and the family Chihuahua Chloe. He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and his precious birds “Kelly” and “Tiara” whom our dad loved taking care of.
He was predeceased by his father William (Bill) in 1969, his mother Elsie in 1994, and his sisters Lorraine in 2007 and Beverly in 2013.Allan recently lost his niece Lila in March 2020 whom he was extremely close to and was more like a sister to him than a niece.
Allan moved from Manitoba to Vancouver with his family in 1946 and grew up on Frontenac Street then Dawson Street and attended Gladstone High School and was confirmed with the Killarney Lutheran Church.
He started his career with Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1961 when he was 21 years old. CP Airlines changed names many times during his career with the airlines. Originally Canadian Pacific Airlines, then CP Air, then Canadian Airlines and finally to Air Canada where he eventually retired after 42 years of service in 2003. Al made multiple lifelong friends there and shared some of his happiest moments of his life with his airline friends.
In 1964, Allan married Judy Kolton and had his two children Darren and Cindy. They resided on Devon Road in Port Coquitlam where they had a small blueberry farm and he moonlighted at The Wild Duck Inn as a Beer Slinger. During this time he was also an owner/operator of the local taxi cab company.
Al and Judy then bought a home with acreage in 1973 on Burke Mountain where Al was able to have his dream of owning horses finally come true. During this time he also had a lake lot at Lake Whatcom in Washington where he spent his summers with his family boating and enjoying the outdoors.
Even though Al & Judy separated in 1979 they remained very good friends over the years and shared all family holidays and get togethers. The two often met for coffee, breakfast and lunch and chatted regularly on the phone. Judy was also a big support by taking Al to his many medical appointments.
In the early 80’s Al purchased a small bachelor apartment in Burnaby and lived there until he bought a rancher in Delta in around 1986. Many family occasions were celebrated there and he entertained his twin grandsons driving them around the yard in his quad and setting up a pool for them to enjoy on the weekends. Al resided in Delta until he retired from the airline in 2003 and decided to move to Kelowna for his retirement years. He lived in Kelowna until after he had a stroke in 2010 and eventually moved back to the mainland in 2014 where he lived in his good friend Manni’s basement suite. Due to Al’s mobility issues after his stroke he moved to the Swedish Assisted Living in Burnaby in 2016 where the staff took excellent care of our dad until he passed.
Allan enjoyed many passions such as his huge love of horses, camping, fishing, hunting, restoring and appreciating vintage cars and of course his main passion which was partying and socializing.
Our dad was funny AF. There is no one who can argue the fact that Al was the life of the party and loved making people laugh. His material was endless but his quick wit and sarcasm will always be remembered by all who were part of his life.
Al had a huge love of travelling and visited many countries and was extremely interested in history of any kind. He loved reading autobiography and history books and thoroughly loved watching every war and western movie ever made.
Our dad loved socializing, cowboy boots, rum and coke and being the life of the party. Right to the very end our dad would move mountains to get to a party or social gathering.
Our dad was extremely proud of us and his grandchildren and always told us so and was never shy about telling us he loved us every time we spoke.
Al had a love hate relationship with technology but did his utmost to try to keep up with managing his multiple devices.
In Al’s final years he formed a strong bond with his son-in-law Len whom they spent an enormous amount of time together. Len was a bright light for Al and took extremely good care of him. Al’s famous line was, “when they made Len, they threw away the mold”. Len loved every moment spent with Al regardless of the endless medical appointments he escorted him to.
Al’s life was well lived and he was loved immensely by his family and friends. He was larger than life, a great brother, father, grandfather and friend making his loss extremely hard to believe.
A viewing will take place with social distancing precautions at Burkeview Chapel located at 1340 Dominion Avenue in Port Coquitlam on Tuesday April 14th, 2020 between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. for whomever would like to pay their final respects. In lieu of flowers please donate in honour of Allan Drein to The Canadian Diabetes Association.
“Your wings were ready but our hearts were not”
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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