July 31, 1952 – October 29, 2025
Larry passed away peacefully at Thunder Bay Regional Hospital with family by his side.
Larry was raised in Nipigon, Ontario and went to public and high school in Red Rock and Nipigon. He enjoyed spending his summers exploring and fishing, and winters playing hockey with his dad Bert coaching. Larry played hockey all through his youth and even received an award from Gordie Howe.
His early career included a short stint on a fishing boat, which scared the heck out of him after he saw the waves on Lake Superior. He worked on the pipelines for a time before starting his own business. He was an accomplished welder, building many down drafter stoves in his lifetime and ran a sawmill and planer.
In 1977 Larry met his partner for life (his “girlfriend) Joy Lynn Roy and through thick and thin they spent 49 years together. After living in Rossport and South Gillies, Larry and Joy started clearing property on Devon Road at the base of Silver Mountain. Larry was a man of many talents and embarked on building a house for him and Joy to raise a family. The early years had them living in a modest house that he built with wood cut on his very own sawmill. Over the years its grown into a unique hand-crafted home that hosted many birthdays, Christmas and family gatherings.
Joy and Larry continued to build their house, a family, and a life together. Welcoming Nova Dawn in 1979 and Dana Ray in 1980, their family was complete. Larry would instill a love of reading in Nova and was always ready to show her how to use power tools and help with her science fair projects. He always told her to become an oceanographer, and although
she didn’t go that far, she did become a certified diver and has had many underwater adventures. Larry taught Dana many things that instilled a great ability to be independent and an incredibly hard worker. Larry and Joy welcomed 2 grandchildren to their lives and enjoyed all the adventures that came with them. With Dana and his family moving out to Whitefish Lake this past year, the visits and fun just got even better.
Larry was always up for a visit in the garage and hosted the regular “Union Meetings” on Friday afternoons. In his later years, he enjoyed working with Joy in the garden and spending time with friends and his family. Larry was fond of animals and his calm presence made everything from chickadees to cats and dogs feel at ease.
Larry is survived by his partner Joy Roy, daughter Nova Mason (Len) and son Dana Donaldson (Nicole.) Granddaughter Jada, grandson Owen and father Bert Donaldson (Trish), brothers Peter and Eric. Additional family in Thunder Bay and southern Ontario will remember him fondly. Larry was predeceased by his mother Anne.
His wry humour and quiet demeanour will always be remembered by those who knew him.
The family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the Nolalu Emergency Services Team and to Superior North EMS. To the staff at TBRHSC, Dr. Lahlouh & Dr. Hassan, thank you for your guidance during this time. To Jillian, Gibson & Joanna and the whole team in 2C, we appreciate the care that you gave to him during these last days.
To our family & friends that took care of the house and Nikki, your help during this time was much appreciated. We are very thankful to everyone that reached out with kind words, notes of encouragement and gestures of kindness. Each of you has made the coming days easier to navigate.
Cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Life will be held on Wednesday November 5th, 2025, at the Oliver Road Rec Centre from 2 – 5 pm where family and friends will be welcome to remember him.
Condolences may be made through www.nwfainc.com
