Brad Mydynski

Peacefully on Thursday, May 16, 2024, Brad Mydynski passed away at his home in Portage la Prairie, MB at the age of 67 years.

Guy Bradley Mydynski, our brother, arrived into this world in Flin Flon, MB during an emergency appendix attack. Mom and Brad were crying together when he arrived during surgery on August 20, 1956.

For several years, Brad grew up in the small Northern community of Lynn Lake, MB with friends and many relatives. He enjoyed all that Mother Nature gave to us in Lynn Lake. He grew up with neighbours helping other neighbours, fishing and camping, and swimming in freezing lakes in the summer. Winter did not stop our family outings snowmobiling for hours and skating. Of course, Mom and Dad curled a lot and taught Brad, Sherry and Deanna how to curl at a young age. Brad especially loved curling. Hockey was another story, he got dressed for hockey, grabbed his skates and hockey stick and headed across the street to the arena. Unknown to us, he headed out to hockey practice for at least a season, but Mom found out via gossip in a small town that Brad was playing hookie all along and not going to hockey. Mom was ok with that, but Dad was a little mad. Brad excelled at a lot of other sports, Track & Field, Basketball, Volleyball, and water skiing with one ski in the summer. He was very athletic in school. In later years, curling and golfing were his passion and he loved both.

His only working job was CIBC, he started when he was 21, and was still working there 46 years later until the day he passed. Brad was devoted and loyal to his job. He’ll be missed by everyone who he came in contact with. Others are going to speak of Brad’s attributes, volunteer work, ethics, compassion, zest for life and being a good friend to the masses.

I guess I am King, or should I say Queen, of Brad’s chair and foot stool in his sunroom. I have never known our brother to sit his butt anywhere else in that comfortable, serene room. We have sat together in his sunroom half frozen to death with cozy afghans thrown over our PJ’s, Brad having his first cup of coffee in the morning and reading the paper and of course me yapping away at him as usual. I would test him out once and awhile to see if he was actually listening to me as I would only hear a grunt periodically. I found out much to my delight that he was actually listening because he always asked which part should he repeat. So much for sister and brotherly love! 

I could rattle off a million stories, but I was told that time was restricted. I will only mention a few, but of course while I am writing down one story, I am already thinking of another one. So okay… where do I begin… Brad is the middle kid, he has nowhere to go as he is stuck in between his two adorable sisters and he is a boy…. We loved him for what he is to us because he is our brother.

Oh! I am off track again, I am supposed to be telling you a few stories, but my mind is travelling too fast as I am trying to think as I write this which story you all would like to hear. I told this the other day with relatives sitting around the kitchen table… Our mom had three friends over for coffee one morning (the three of us were four, five and six or so). Mom heated up the coffee from the night before, she was not an early riser, and she proceeded to pour the coffee. I was trying to get her attention by saying “Mom, Mom” and tapping her arm, but we were not supposed to do that when there was company. She told me to go play. One of the women took a sip of coffee and she said to Mom that the coffee was very strange tasting… that is why when I piped up and said “I was trying to tell you that Brad peed in the coffee pot this morning.” Mom was so embarrassed. Good thing they were all good friends.

Several years later, Brad was 16, he and his friends went out drinking, and everyone was sleeping when he came home and we woke up to a smell in the entire house that smelled like vomit. No one would get out of bed. Mom and Dad or Deanna would not get up. Finally it was up to me and I went to the Kitchen and Brad had puked all over the dishes in the sink. Guess who had to clean it up? Neither Brad nor I have never drank Lemon Gin ever since.

One last story, a golfing one. We went with the entire family golfing in Swan River. Brad was just going to tee off and I told him he was standing the wrong way, just as he was starting to swing his club. He told me not to talk while he was teeing off, but I proceeded to tell him the way he was standing, the ball would go into the trees. He tried to swing for the second time, and I told him his ball was too high off the ground, he would miss the ball all together, he proceeds to tell me to keep quiet. Well, I did not like being told that, and then on his third attempt, he swung hard off to the right into the trees. Well, he glared at me and I told him “If you would have just listened to me in the first place, you wouldn’t be in the trees.” This comes from his sister, who does not even know how to play golf. But the best is yet to come…… About the seventh hole, he got into the sand and he was trying to putt out of the sand. On his fifth or sixth time, he was getting very frustrated. I was busy counting with each of his attempts, and I said “Do you need any help, brother dear?” I told him “Remember I’m the scorekeeper!” he was even starting to swear a bit and he was huffing also, I was counting out loud and proceeding to let him know I was going to beat him in playing. Finaly, on 14 swings he was laughing so hard he swung really hard and just like that, he was out of the sand pit. I proudly told him his score was a nine for that hole. For the rest of the game he kept telling me to be more quiet, I told him I could talk as loud as I wanted as I was outside and he was just a stick in the mud. I won over Brad by a four foot putt on the ninth hole. I’ve never let him forget that. Absolutely family fun and adventure. 

We will miss you, Brother Dear, for the rest of our lives. May you have a happy, wonderful time with all our relatives and friends in heaven. It is your turn now! Deanna and I (Sherry) will catch up to you one day. You will be sorely missed by us sisters, but you will never leave our hearts.

Brad will be lovingly remembered by his sisters Sherry Gy-Varga and Deanna (Stuart) Dryden; niece Sarah  Dryden and closest friend Colleen Fletcher; along with numerous other relatives and friends. He was predeceased by his parents Elmer and Shirley Mydynski. 

A memorial service will take place on Friday, May 24, 2024 at the MNP Building, Island Park, Portage la Prairie at 1:00 pm.   Interment will take place at a later date in Pleasantdale, Saskatchewan. 

The service will be livestreamed, to register and view click below. 

Donations in memory of Brad may be made to Diabetes Canada, 401-1 Wesley Ave, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 4C6.

A tree will be planted and cared for by McKenzies Portage Funeral Chapel. www.mckenziesportagefuneralchapel.com 204-857-4021.