A Kind, Loving and Rich A** Uncle

Welcome to the first installment of a series called BBQ Steak for Soul’s Sake, where I share wild stories of my family passed down to me to tell the tale. I want to begin by telling the story as I know it, of my dear Uncle Rick.

For starters, Uncle Rick is not actually my uncle. He’s my grandfather’s nephew. This would technically make him my cousin but since he was so close in age with my grandpa, they practically grew up as brothers and so he was dubbed Uncle Rick to my family and me. French Canadian families in northern Ontario were massive in the good old boomer days due to the popularity of the small family farm so this wasn’t uncommon.

Handsome Uncle Rick grew up in a musical family where he learned to sing, play the piano and other instruments. With a shit ton of other handsome brothers (shoutout Redge, Guy, Dan, Big Red) who played a great variety of instruments, their band, “Rick and the Chandelles” was legendary, or so I heard. In his teens, he was selling out shows locally and as my grandpa shared with me,

“He was pulling all the bitches.”

I’m kidding. He didn’t actually say that. But the way he talks about his adolescence makes it seem like he did and after seeing pictures of his wedding when my uncle was in his 20s, I’ve personally concluded that he was definitely pulling all the bitches.

Now I must say, for this next part in the story I have my grandfather to thank for he told me of the wild '60s and everything that came with it. Since they lived in the outskirts of the city, small towns were inherently territorial in nature, and as you can imagine fights broke out all the time at the bars and dancing halls. These weren't just one vs one fights, these were full-out gang/town "The Outsiders" farmer boys vs farmer boys type fights. The best part about all this according to my grandfather was that you got to fight alongside all your 7+ brothers and dozens of cousins at the same time. All because some guys from the other town were dancing with your boys' girls or your sister.

Anyways, my uncle could afford his own car at 16 years old from what I remember being told, which was practically unheard of from a farm boy at the time. This young showman would grow old to be the future owner of a beautiful lodge overlooking the lake. He even had a wapiti zoo there at one point. Like your métis French-Canadian version of Joe Exotic but just actually a decent and jolly human being.

I remember being there and playing pond hockey on the crystal white frozen lake while hearing the ice thunder below me. It was surreal. Every time I recall memories from Uncle Rick, they’re always so pure and loving. Every year until the pandemic, he hosted a huge family reunion on Easter Monday at the “Sugar Shack”, which is probably the most Canadian thing ever.

As a kid, I ate so much (pardon my French) “tire”, a homemade sugary maple syrup substance served on the snow that came directly from Uncle Rick’s supply of maple trees on his land. The hardened substance was true happiness on a stick and as a child, you bet I enjoyed every single lick of it. Music played all day as the musicians of the family all took their turns to display their talents. I always got to hear the legendary Rick himself play the piano and I loved every second of it. Egg hunts, quad rides, wooden fort building, exploring the isolated property, screaming like hooligans, private water slides, photoshoots with my uncle’s wide variety of toys.

I could go on and on.

Forever will I cherish the moments of his quiet stories at hunt camp where he shared his deep and hard-earned wisdom. I could see it in my grandpa’s and my uncle’s eyes, the glory of the good times they had together. He told me then in French,

“It goes by so quick, this life of ours. It felt like yesterday when I was your age. Eh Larry!” As he and my grandfather would chuckle and share some memories.

The truth is Uncle Rick is a man of culture. A real force of goodness in the world. A gem who never stops working. Someone who uses his wealth to truly bring his family together. And this man does it all out of love! I will forever cherish those memories I had as a child for it made me feel loved and connected to the big family.

Dear Uncle Rick, on behalf of all the kids in the family we fucking love and appreciate you!

Cheers,

M.Y. Simon