February 25, 1954 - August 16, 2020
Bryan was diagnosed with late Stage 4 Lung Cancer in July. It was a sudden diagnosis that progressed quickly. During his final days he was surrounded by the love of his family. Bryan is survived by his 100-year-old Mother Ada, older sister Ann Vessey (Cliffe), wife Anne, son Jacob, daughters Bailee (Devon Drury) and Norah, grand-daughter Sage, and stepdaughters Cindy Kaardal and Laura Dodd (Mike). He is pre-deceased by his father Stan, and sister Valli Anderson.
Bryan was the youngest son of an air force family. Born in Kamloops, much of his childhood and youth was spent moving between bases, including Zweibrücken, Germany and Cold Lake, Alberta. His parents finally settled down in Nanaimo when Bryan was starting high school.
It was in Nanaimo that Bryan laid the foundation for what would become lifelong friendships, with a crew that called themselves the GONADs. This rowdy band of mis-fits spent many days snorkelling and fishing in Departure Bay, jumping off the ferry pilings into the ships wake, and playing board games for hours into the night.
Bryan had a natural gift with the ocean, both above and below the surface. It was the early days of the SCUBA Diving industry and he did it all, commercial work, rescue missions, gear sales and repair. In 1971, he went to Monterey, California to earn his certification as a dive instructor.
In 1980 the diving industry brought Bryan North to Campbell River. Highlights of his glory days in the SCUBA industry were being a member of the first dive team to reach the remains of Ripple Rock and being a rescue diver for the wreck of the cruise ship SUNDANCER. In 1985, he opened the doors to his own store, Beaver Aquatics. He taught courses in the current under Argonaut Warf where he trained an octopus to sit on his shoulder for the duration of his dive.
1985 is also when Bryan began raising his family on the beach in Shelter Point. The summers were filled with exploring the tide pools, building cities full of crabs, and hunting for octopus. In the winter, wet-suits were brought home from the Dive Store for the children to play in the waves of the South-Easters as they blew through. He shared his love of the ocean and all its creatures with them.
In 2003 Bryan was introduced to Anne who would become his wife. Together they had up to 5 teenagers under the roof at any given time. Their love got them through that and continued to shine through the years they shared together.
2014 his dreams came true, with the birth of his grand-daughter Sage. Bryan retired early in 2019 to have more time to travel. He and Anne had been averaging about a month abroad a year, often chasing their children to the different parts of the world that they had settled in.
Due to the ongoing health crisis, there will be no public service.