Garry Brent Joseph Gaudet

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Garry Brent Joseph Gaudet, age 85, in Lantzville, BC on December 13, 2024. Garry passed away at home, peacefully, in his sleep after a series of health challenges.

He leaves behind Janice, his wife of 22 years; children Jacqueline, Christine, and Ben; sisters Margaret, Denise, and Robin; several nieces and nephews and their families; 4 step children, 5 grandchildren, and many, many friends.

Husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle and friend; jazz drummer and aficionado; writer, broadcaster, communicator and critic, Garry was a true bon vivant. He loved to travel in his numerous RVs over the years, and was always on the lookout for updates to the research he did on his Acadian roots and relatives. Canucks and Saskatchewan Roughriders fan, political watcher, creator of bad and mediocre puns, Garry loved life and to see other people loving it, too.

Garry was raised in Regina, Saskatchewan where he grew up playing hockey, helping out at his dad’s garage, and playing drums from a young age. Garry left school at 17 and moved to Vancouver in the late 50s where he started his family with his first wife Tanyss and started working in radio. Over the years Garry worked at various stations — CHQM + CKLG, both in Vancouver and CHQT Edmonton, as well as CHUB Nanaimo (now CKWV, The Wave). Garry worked with Nanaimo’s community TV station in the 1970s, once creating a segment about healthful living which introduced a famously notorious liver soup to our household. He was passionate about communication, and worked variously as a broadcaster, programmer and writer. Garry was a lifelong learner, travelling to Guatemala for a year with his then-partner Inge in the 1980s and becoming proficient, maybe even fluent, in Spanish. Garry moved to Kelowna early in the 1990s where he worked for 11 years as the public relations officer for Okanagan College, during which time the institution evolved into Okanagan University.

After “retiring,” Garry moved to Nanaimo to help care for his mother where they spent many happy times out and about in Garry's VW van. He met Janice, his second wife and partner in life, who tolerated and even enjoyed wandering about in Garry’s various camper vans. Garry and Janice travelled across Canada twice, and took several trips down the coast, taking highway 101 through Washington and Oregon, and once made it all the way to the Baja Peninsula. Both avid kayakers, there was always a kayak or two on the roof of the RV, and a dog or cat travelling inside with them.

Garry's first love was music: he played drums, starting his jazz education with pals in Regina who were lucky enough to see greats like Lester Young play there. While still a teenager Garry was part of the house band one summer at a Clear Lake Manitoba resort, playing Artie Shaw covers 6 nights a week.

Later he played with several local Nanaimo jazz groups, including the Dixie Rats, the Ken Ryall combo, Norbert Boyce’s group and was the drummer for the NMA (Nanaimo Musician’s Association) big band during the 1970s and ‘80s. Right up until 2020 Garry had a standing gig in either Mo Christensen or Norm Porter’s basement on Tuesday evenings, and was always looking for a chance to play.

Garry was a huge champion for the amazing musical talent that Vancouver Island has produced, mentored by his good friends Bryan Stovell, the late greats Dave Strong and Norbert Boyce, Norm Porter, Mo Christensen and probably many others whose names I have missed. Ingrid and Christine Jensen, Phil Dwyer and Diana Krall are all local, incredibly talented jazzers, and I’m sure there are, again, many who I am missing that should be on the list.

Garry was a talented writer, publishing articles over the years in many different publications. Vancouver’s NUVO magazine published a couple that I can’t seem to track down, one called “There’s Something In The Water,” about Diana Krall and another article on Shea Lynn Bourne and Victor Kratz, Canadian ice dancers. Garry was proud to collaborate on a tribute book for his good friend, artist Anthony Thorn, entitled For the Honour of the Art and published in 2022. There is a beautiful chapter written by Garry in the book, edited by the talented and much loved late Lyndon Grove, Garry’s brother-in-law.

The last year or so with Dad was bittersweet. We watched him get winded doing the smallest exertions, and when we learned in the fall that the dialysis we'd all been counting on to help improve his quality of life was no longer available to him, it was devastating news. A brief stint in the hospital in October 2024 was a scare and a wake-up call to the reality that Father Time, as Garry said, was coming for him. He had a good respite at home for a few weeks, but as I've read elsewhere, the brightness showed the way for the suffering to enter, and on a wet and dreary Friday the 13th, Garry slipped away to see his long-gone and always adored mom (Brenda) and dad (Ben), and jam with Norbert and Dave once again.

As per Garry's request, there will be no formal service, but an open-house style remembrance will be held from 1-4 pm on February 1st, 2025 at 7056 Tweedhope Rd, Lantzville. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the BC Kidney Foundation. Rest in peace, Dad.