Seven year old Fort Qu'Appelle boy missing

Larry James MacDougall was born at Regina, Sask. on July 30, 1951, first-born son to George and Phyllis (Swain) MacDougall. They lived on a farm in the Brookside District. In 1954, a brother, Kleven, arrived, and shortly after little brother Doug in 1955. With three boys in the family there were many antics and Larry always ended up being the referee with a level head!

Larry attended grades 1-3 at Brookside country school only half a mile from his home. He completed grades 4-12 at Langbank School, graduating in 1969. It was in elementary school that he met his best friend and the love of his life, Vivian Fisk.

From a young age, Larry loved the land and the livestock. He drove trucks or tractors even when he was too short to see over the steering wheel or operate the gas pedal. Farming became his passion. He helped his mom and dad farm, along with his two younger brothers, Kleven and Doug. Larry’s love of livestock was apparent when he was a member of the Fairmede 4-H Beef Club. He showed cattle at many achievement days.

Larry went on to further his education in Vocational Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and graduated with a College Diploma in 1971. He met many friends at university and was always willing to join his fellow Voc Ag’s in challenging the Engineers in rivalry pranks. It was very important to Larry to reunite with his university friends so he helped organize his class reunions every five years. All his friends would say that seeing Larry after years apart seemed like they just talked last week—the conversations continued like no time had passed.

In the spring of 1972, Larry and Vivian bought Jack Knoblauch’s farm, north of Langbank. On July 8 of that same year Larry and Vivian were married at Langbank United Church. Their honeymoon took them to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Just last week they revisited the Falls, recreated pictures, boasted of their 50 years together, and fondly remembered their previous visit to the Falls in 1989 with Nicole and Angela. Returning to Niagara Falls with his loving wife and getting to share the experience with Nicole, Ava and Leah was very special for Larry.

On Larry and Vivian’s newly acquired farm, they raised pigs and developed a herd of cattle to supplement the grain farming operation. Much to Vivian’s dismay, there was no convincing Larry into raising chickens or turkeys! In his words “That would just create too much mess in the yard and around the machinery!”

For a little extra income, Larry worked at West’s Garage in Langbank for a few years after their marriage. He learned how to repair vehicles and machinery while working there. This mechanical knowledge was a real bonus on the farm. There was nothing Larry couldn’t repair and he was never afraid to tear anything apart.

In 1973, Larry and Vivian began farming together with Kleven and in 1979 Judy joined them. This strong partnership lasted 48 years. In the fall of 1980, Larry lost his father, George. After George’s passing, Phyllis joined her boys and farmed along with them.

The family expanded in November 1974 with the arrival of Nicole, and in February of 1977, with Angela. As the family grew, along came activities with the girls; coaching curling, running to watch sports or going on trail rides. Larry loved horses. He would spend hours breaking multiple horses that his family would ride. He went on many trail rides with his family and every year at Thanksgiving would be the annual cattle roundup from land referred to as 10. It was a four mile cross-country journey with the horses. Some years it was short sleeve shirts and sunglasses and other years it was snow suits, toques, scarves, mitts, and the warmest boots you could find that fit in the stirrups! It was an event the whole family looked forward to each year!

In 2003, Larry and Vivian officially gained two sons with the marriage of Nicole and Michael and Angela and Darcy. There were many late night and early morning conversations revolving around family, farming, machinery, weather, politics, and any other current events that were happening.

Over the years the farms expanded and the equipment got larger, as well as the costs. Diversification became a big push, so both farms grew to include the raising of elk. Brimac Farms was established along with business partner, Trent Brister. They raised elk together from 1996 to 2010.

On April 16, 2021, Larry, Vivian, Kleven and Judy celebrated their retirement at their farm auction. It was not a traditional farm auction, with family, neighbours and a tasty auction lunch prepared by the local ladies, but rather a small gathering of just the two families. They watched the sale on two giant TV screens in Kleven and Judy’s new shop and toasted champagne to all of their farming successes.

Larry enjoyed all sports. One of his favourites was fastball. He played many a game and enjoyed every minute of them. He would laugh and tell the story of his fastball team reuniting and digging out their old jerseys when they were in their thirties. Known as the “old guys” who hadn’t practiced or played in a while, they played hard and won the A Final of the Annual Langbank Ball Day’s Tournament. It was quite the upset to the younger Langbank boys!

Larry’s other passion for sport was curling. Every weekend in the winter was a bonspiel and since that wasn’t quite enough, a “husband and wife” curling group of eight, made a summer spiel excursion with their campers to Nelson, B.C. in the late 70’s, leaving the grandparents George, Phyllis, Wes and Iris to look after Nicole and Angela. Larry fondly told the story that Grandpa George was supposed to cut the hay while they were gone so that it would be ready to bale when Larry and Kleven returned, but Grandpa George found too many fun things to do with the girls, so the hay was a bit late that year! Larry and Kleven were not impressed!

Larry’s passion for curling continued for many years. He, along with Kleven, Cliff Worley, Fred Gravener, Doug Yuhasz and Trent Brister were just some of the men that challenged many bonspiels together. They took part in the North-South Super League rivalry as well as many Saskatchewan Regional, District, and Southern Playdowns. Many weekends were spent together with Vivian, Nicole and Angela and the teams’ families at rinks in southeast Saskatchewan while the men curled and the families watched. Larry passed his love of curling along to his girls and he loved coaching them and watching them curl.

It would be safe to say that Larry loved old-time country music. He would start tapping his feet to the music and before long he would hop up to dance with Vivian or one of the other ladies that was willing. Larry taught his girls to dance at the local family dances in Langbank. Larry and Vivian started dancing together as teenagers and continued to dance at weddings and socials over the years. They even were able to enjoy old-time dances in Mesa, Arizona, while on vacation.

Family was very important to Larry and he loved his family with all his heart. He always made time to be with them whether is was his immediate family or extended. His favourite times of the year were when his family gathered for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. He enjoyed the energy and excitement of his granddaughters while they were together and the conversations with his girls and “boys.” Quite often these gatherings included both the MacDougall and Fisk extended families, sometimes reaching 40 people in the house. “Come on in! The more, the merrier,” he would say.

Larry was always keeping up with his aunts, uncles and cousins through phone calls, emails and reunions. He looked forward to the MacDougall family reunions every five years. He helped plan them many times to ensure that the tradition would continue and family would gather.

Fond family memories of the ‘80s were of canvas tent campers, sleeping on the top of windy hills with the camper violently swaying and hot summer nights are just a few. Camping trips were all over Saskatchewan, Manitoba, South Dakota, and British Colombia. In 2010, Larry and Vivian shocked everyone when they upgraded to a 39 foot “apartment on wheels.” This upgrade led them to spend nine winters in Mesa, Arizona, with Kleven and Judy and Cliff and Donna. The six of them golfed, swam, visited markets, and made so many lifelong friends there. During the summer the campers spent time near beautiful golf courses and last summer they spent two weeks at Little Loon Lake where the granddaughters camped with them in one of the hottest camping summers in history. Air conditioning, movies and game days inside were appreciated when it was too hot to be outside!

Larry loved to travel and see new places and meet new people. A family road trip took them to Vancouver for “Expo 86” and then out east to Ontario, Quebec, and the maritime provinces in 1989. Larry loved to see new country and would make random stops along the drive to visit farmers in their fields and gain knowledge of their farming practices. He was always welcomed with open arms and a cup of coffee. His love for travel also found him and Vivian in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Florida, Hawaii and on a cruise in the Caribbean as well as various other trips within Canada.

Larry was blessed with five beautiful and talented granddaughters. He was so proud of all of them and their accomplishments. He always told the girls that “you can do anything the boys can do AND BETTER!” Grandpa spent many hours snuggling and rocking babies, giving quad rides, hitting for a game of 500, reading books, playing games, watching sports, choir, band, and Christmas concerts. He liked a good game of cards and crib. At Easter he was skunked by his granddaughters in his first game on his new personalized wooden crib board! In the past few years Grandpa and Grandma have spent many hours on the road chauffeuring girls to hockey, softball, and curling games. They watched hockey playoffs and provincial finals, softball provincial medal wins and often driving between two places on the same day to catch all the action. Just last week he attended the U18 National curling event in Ontario and was in his glory watching his granddaughters curl and visiting with people from across Canada.

Larry loved his treats! He always had some sort of Scotch mints, Werthers, jube jubes or what his granddaughters called “Mesa mints” in his pockets for all his “girls,” young and old. He would never pass by an ice cream shop without buying ice cream. Twisted Sisters Ice Cream in Chamberlain was a favorite meeting place where Grandpa and Grandma would meet to pick up the granddaughters for the annual summer trip to Langbank. Then there was Grandpa’s famous “red pot” popcorn. Grandpa made it just right and it required multiple pots because it tasted so good!

Community service was a very important part of Larry’s life. He was an RM of Silverwood councillor for 10 years, on the Langbank Co-op Board, ADD Board, Kipling Hospital Board, and of course a long standing member of the Langbank Rec Board. He dedicated many hours to the curling rink helping with ice and planning and running bonspiels in Langbank’s curling heyday. He was available at any time of the day or night for all his friends and neighbours whether they were requiring assistance or just needing to talk. Volunteering was a big part of Larry’s life, as his community was extremely important to him.

Everyone knows that Larry LOVED to visit! It didn’t matter your age or where you were from, as long as you were within earshot, you were going to be visiting with him in a matter of minutes. He had time for everyone and he genuinely wanted to learn about you and what you were doing but would also have a story or two of his own to share. Many a time his family would stand waiting on him to finish his conversation! If you lost Larry in a crowd, you would just have to be quiet and listen. His resounding laugh would lead you right to him. His ease of talking to a stranger was always amazing. He befriended everyone that crossed his path.

Larry valued his close friendships with his family and his neighbours. He enjoyed having a visit over coffee or an hour long phone call. He always had time for his friends and he cherished them all.

Larry was very determined to do his best at everything he did and his success was evident. A quote he often used was, “when there is a will, there is a way” which depicted him and his life. He was a hard worker, a careful planner, meticulous and organized. Larry was a strong man and proud of his family and all of their accomplishments. He was a genuine person, compassionate, loyal to all, and lovingly devoted to his family and friends. He blessed all of us with 70 great years and for that we will be forever grateful.

The family would like to thank everyone that was there to celebrate the life that Larry lived. Larry touched the life of everyone he knew in some way during his life journey. Those that were unable to attend the funeral, that have sent personal messages, thank you, we are very grateful. The rink was filled with wonderful memories of things that Larry said, things people talked about, or did together with him. We know that everyone carries a piece of him in their heart. In the weeks, months, years to follow let’s share our stories together and keep his legacy alive.

Larry James MacDougall

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