In memory of
Bryan David Spencer
Bryan David Spencer
Bryan David Spencer passed away on October 5, 2020 at the age of 32 from a drug overdose after a courageous battle with opioid addiction.
Growing up Bryan was the kind of kid that was good at everything, which drove his sister crazy! He picked up a baseball as a toddler and already had an arm. He had recently started making hot sauce from home grown peppers, and it was a hit off the bat! He was an accomplished Boy Scout and played a mean saxophone. He went to flight school and graduated with his pilot’s license- his lifelong dream was to be in the air.
From the time he was little he was also incredibly kind, and arguably had the biggest heart of us all. He was the brother who stood at the top of the stairs through the intro of Unsolved Mysteries and ventured into our grandmother’s scary basement for the SpaghettiOs to protect us. He was also the one to give up the last Weaser’s Italian Ice or his last dollar, or to lend a ride or a helping hand for anyone who needed it.
Bryan loved conspiracy theories. He could talk for hours about them. He loved Star Wars and video games. He loved ordering a boat of sushi bigger than his own head and finishing it all.
He loved animals. He actually fell in love with his first dog Randy during an impromptu trip to the Humane Society with a friend’s family where he refused to leave until his father showed up with the checkbook. He loved his son Tanner more than anything he had ever known, and nothing made him smile more than being a father. Because when you were Bryan’s, you were Bryan’s.
And this is what we want him to be remembered for. We want him to be remembered for the life that was here, the struggles and the successes. We want him to be remembered for the heart that was too big for his chest, inside the person that heroin made him. We want the world to know that so much was lost when he left us, but that he will be honored infinitely by who he made us in the short time he was alive. Bryan, “olive juice.”
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” -Winnie the Pooh
