Mr. Lawrence Matthew Prystanski took his last breath on Thursday, July 27th, 2023 with his 3 favourite girls holding him and D’yer Maker by Led Zeppelin playing in the background.
Born on December 30th, 1969 in Fort William, Ontario (the last baby before it became Thunder Bay) to parents Hope and Dennis Prystanski. Lawrence immediately proved he was stubborn and strong headed from a young age. He spent a lot of time on his parents farm helping to gather eggs, plant the gardens, weed, pick vegetables and ensure everything was smooth running. These are the skills he continued to grow as he became the man we knew and loved.
Lawrence spent over 25 years in safety and made many connections along the way that quickly became friends. He started his safety career first for Superior Safety when he made his way into sales and never looked back.
Seven years ago, Lawrence made the move to Weber Supply and excelled even further with his extremely supportive team that will miss him greatly. Lawrence and his family all loved the thought of Weber being a family run company and Weber quickly became a family for us all. Lawrence loved his job, his customers and of course, the people he got to work with and mentor. We as a family could not have been happier for him to have found his place!
Lawrence loved to volunteer and got so involved he would become President or Vice-President for Navy League of Canada-Lakehead Branch, Hymers Agricultural Society and Superior Shores Gaming Association. All held a special place in his heart and he will be missed greatly by all involved.
Lawrence spent years of his life pickling. He’d make hundreds of jars of jams, pickles, salsa’s, carrots, and so much more.
The flavours of jams and jellies he’d experiment with, and always make taste amazing was insane, and his ideas only grew more and more over the years. He loved cooking in so many ways. In the oven, slow cooked, grilled, even on the fire. His recipe book is something to be cherished forever. We all know we will never forget his classic ‘piggy cake’ and all the custom cheesecakes.
Lawrence was always the first to take on any challenge that he, his customers, or his family faced; he always enjoyed solving problems. He was also a master of dad jokes and dramatic sing alongs and the best for hugs after a bad day. Lawrence constantly put the needs of others ahead of himself as often as he could, truly one of the most selfless men to have ever walked this earth.
Lawrence was a loving husband who was never afraid to make sure everyone around knew the “sexy hot redhead” was his Loving wife Rhonda. He constantly ensured everybody knew that Victoria was his “PSD: Personal Support Daughter” and Anna was his favourite princess/server. Lawrence was an amazing human being who brought happiness to everyone he crossed paths with. Lawrence always did his best to make other people’s days brighter: dad jokes, comforting comments, a hot coffee before the work day started, or even just a thank you, he was always ensuring you knew you were important to him.
Lawrence was one heck of a fighter, stronger mentally than anyone anticipated, including most doctors. He continued to fight until the bitter end, just as he promised his girls. Lawrence will always be remembered as a selfless, caring man, son, brother, husband, and father. A man who continuously demonstrated the kind of community we want to live in.
Lawrence is survived by his SYDSW/wife Rhonda, his beautiful children Victoria (25) and Annastasia (22), his big sister Faith (Mark), his little brother Stephan (Heather), his parents, Hope and Dennis Prystanski, his nieces and nephews, and many other beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, co-workers, and of course all of his grand-fur babies. Lawrence will be greeted in the heavens by many family and friends, and of course, his two dogs (and maybe Anna’s cat).
A well attended service was held at 10:30am Monday July 31st at St. Elizabeth Church with Father Rey Ronquillo. As per Lawrence’s wishes, the reception was held in the backyard that he loved and nurtured so much since marrying the love of his life in “the Garden of Love” in August 2000. The celebration continued on with a fire in the evening for those that could not attend during the day.
A special thank you to Elvira, Terriann and Jerrilynn for all the help ensuring the reception at the house ran smoothly, we don’t know what we would have done without you ladies, much love. To our amazing neighbours for allowing us to use their house and yard for extra cooking and food storage (and the pond) and everything else you have helped with along the way; words will never be enough.
We would also like to extend a massive thank you to the wonderful nursing staff of 1A-Oncology at TBRHSC. There are way too many names to mention, but you ladies (and gent) made a lot of tough days a little bit easier to handle. We can not forget a very special thank you to Tony for making that few minutes of our day a little more enjoyable. Tony, please keep doing what you do, we need more of that kind of love and care in the world!!
A thank you to the many family and friends who supported Lawrence and his family along the cancer journey with food, friendship and memorable visits; Lawrence appreciated every single one of them, especially those that got to attend our outdoor picnics by the pond. The pond at the regional quickly became his favourite spot and we were out there every chance we got, spotting birds, watching the otter play and looking for turtles.
If friends so desired, further donations can be directed to the Hymers Agricultural Society “bench program” as we would love to have Lawrence represented in a place that meant the world to him.
Condolences may be made through www.nwfainc.com
