Copyright peacearchnews
Venture to a fire station in one of South Africa’s coldest towns and you’ll likely see some Canadian pride; a memento of a warm thank-you delivered to firefighters there a year ago by a White Rock senior. Richard Briand took the opportunity to express his gratitude during a September 2024 motorcycle tour that led his group through Molteno, located high in the Stormberg Mountains of the continent’s Eastern Cape province. “I noticed the local fire station with firefighters sitting outside on their break,” Briand wrote on his return, intending to share his experience with Peace Arch News. “With my tour guides’ approval, I turned around to speak with them and to thank them for South Africa’s contribution to firefighting in Canada. I remembered how gracious South Africa had been in the past sending firefighters to Canada to help with our forest fires.” Stocked with pins and flags from his local MP’s office – items the NAV Canada retiree had packed to “show Canadian pride and to distribute to locals at stops along the way” – Briand chatted with a few of the men, learning some of them had been among those who had travelled to Canada to help. “Who could be more deserving than these dedicated firefighters who came from half a world away to help Canadians?” he wrote, noting the men expressed a plan to hang the flag in their fire station. The memorable experience was among many that Briand had enjoyed in recent years, courtesy of the open road and his love for adventuring by motorcycle. The passion took him to some of the world’s most distant corners. From 2019 on, “he toured every summer,” Briand’s widow, Polly Lavack told PAN last month, noting her husband spent “hours and hours” planning each trip. Lavack forwarded Briand’s letter to PAN after discovering that the “heart-warming” description had somehow not been sent, and wanting “to see his experience halfway around the world recognized in his home city of White Rock.” The request came some eight months after Briand rode his final tour. He died on Jan. 7, 2025 in Arizona, after suffering catastrophic injuries on Dec. 29, 2024 while riding his 2023 BMW K1600 GT near Payson. Lavack said while it’s not clear exactly what caused Briand to lose control that afternoon – perhaps he’d hit debris or an animal – it became clear in the aftermath that “there was no coming back” from his injuries. Supported by a hospice team, she and Briand’s daughter Hayley “decided together this was not the life that Richard would’ve wanted,” Lavack said, during an interview on what would’ve been her husband’s 73rd birthday. He died 22 minutes after being taken off life support. Reflecting on the nearly two decades they’d had together, Lavack said she doesn’t regret encouraging her husband to pursue his two-wheeled adventures. It was an important piece of the connection they shared; a connection she described as a “harmony of opposites.” Briand, at 6’1”, towered over Lavack’s petite 4’10” frame. While he was outgoing, she was an introvert. Where Lavack was always early to bed, early to rise, Briand was a night owl. He also loved his sweets, treats and snacks, while Lavack favoured a nutritious diet. And if it wasn’t already clear, Briand was the explorer of the two; Lavack was content as more of a homebody. “A lot of opposites, but it’s the harmony of opposites that made it just a really rock-solid marriage,” she said. While it was their differences that melded the relationship, it was something they had in common that initially brought them together: grief. The pair met in Winnipeg in November 2005, while attending bereavement support sessions. Lavack was there after losing her first husband in March 2005; Briand, following the death of his first wife in October that same year. The following April, the pair met for coffee, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. “Crazy about each other,” they married in August 2007 and moved to White Rock a couple months later. Lavack, who taught French immersion for many years, said she joined Briand on his motorcycle in the early days of their marriage, but didn’t share his passion for it – for her, the experience was more frightening than fun. But she made sure to encourage her husband to bask in the joy he found in it, championing his ventures particularly in his golden years; even when they led him thousands of miles away for weeks at a time. “We loved each other, we were crazy about each other, but I was just not keeping him tethered,” she continued. “I wanted him to enjoy all the years that he could on his bike.” Throughout his absences, the couple stayed in touch via FaceTime, daily if the area’s WiFi signals would allow. Through touring – including with the BeeCee Beemers and Langley Road Riders – the fun-loving Briand forged treasured friendships, even meeting a man in Norway whom he described to Lavack as “a younger version of himself.” It was “just a beautiful encounter that mushroomed into something better,” she said. “There were a lot of those encounters along the way.” Lavack said it has been “tough, tough, tough” without her husband, but that she is grateful for the “enormous” support she’s found through Peace Arch Hospice Society. The last photo of the couple together was taken on Dec. 23, 2024; just two weeks before Briand died. Much like a photo taken many years prior – of the pair with a cake iced with the date they married – it speaks 1,000 words. “We were never so happy,” Lavack said. “We were aware every minute how fortunate we were.”
