Ryan William Alexandre Furnémont was born on July 9, 1986. My “Expo Boy”. Ryan was always very athletic, and he excelled at soccer, loved baseball (he had a very sweet swing, quick legs and a great arm), was going to be the next Patrick Roy in his oversized goalie uniform, hated being dragged to swimming lessons, then discovered high school basketball and eventually joined the local golf club (and never realized how good he was considering how little effort he had to put into it).
Growing up in Ladysmith, he went on weekend hikes with Thia and our dog Nikita. He discovered the many paths around Heart Lake, climbed up and down Bald Mountain on day long treks, discovered the views from Mount Prevost or Maple Mountain, jumped into frigid waters in Cathedral grove on our way to Long Beach – or waded in the friendly Holland Creek in our backyard.
Our biggest “athletic bond” took many years to build. Way back in 1994, during a visit with Jean-François, we took Ryan rafting in the States and the guide fell out of the boat in the very first rapids. Ryan was terrified for the rest of the trip, and it took another 10 years before he would venture on a raft again. But ever since, our trips on the Nahatlash and Stein rivers have been a regular occurrence, and we love sharing that bond. Watch Ryan talk about the Stein river in this You Tube video.
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Back in 2009, we went on a Father and Son Ball Trip of a lifetime, visiting Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee stadiums.
Ryan and Tara got married in June 2020, and they are now proud parents of Linden Pierre Furnémont, born on February 17, 2021. Tara and Ryan also share custody of Tara’s handsome boy Jesse … Ryan is the Parts Manager at Nanaimo Mack, and lives in Ladysmith.
In 2014, Ryan and I also went on another fantastic trip, this time to see the World Cup in Brazil . THAT was an adventure …