Obituary of Gary William Llewellyn

Gary William Llewellyn – gentleman, scholar, and ultimate good guy with The Best Laugh Ever, left this earth on June 5, 2025 at 10:35am.

Gary was born in Oshawa, Ontario, as his folks, Charles and Wanda Llewellyn, were making their way back to the Maritimes during wartime. The Llewellyns settled into Fredericton around 1946, and they and their children Grant, Gary, and a bit later on Norman and Karen, enjoyed a happy and fun childhood in the beautiful City of Stately Elms. Originally from Prince Edward Island, Wanda and Charles had many family members who remained living there, and Gary looked forward to frequent visits and spending time in the summers on the family farm close to Summerside. The family cottage was on Lake Washademoak, and many summers were spent with the Cambridge Narrows and surrounding Lake community. Dad talked fondly of those years, as recently as on his birthday.

If asked, Gary would list his accomplishments as, loving his wife Carol for 57 years (their wedding was June 8, 1968), and his two children, Lita and Kristian. He loved his family, his community, and was so very proud of both.

Gary was active and social through his school years. He was part of the Glee Club, and played Rugby at FHS. He often said he retired his singing voice after hearing himself once. However, his love of rugby continued as he was an avid fan of the Loyalists Rugby Club. Gary attended UNB, obtained his Business Degree, spent time working in London, UK, then moved to Calgary, AB, where he lived for 4 years. In that short time, he was a highly successful real estate agent, we all know he could sell sand to a beach, made many deep and lasting friendships there, and met his future wife, Carol (Smith). Gary married Carol in Calgary, and shortly after they made their way home to Fredericton, where he joined the family business, Wandlyn Inns.

There were only a few committees and groups that Gary did not belong to over the years; he was an avid volunteer with Lita and Kristian’s schools (Priestman, George, and FHS) as they grew up, weekly shifts at the Soup Kitchen, Outreach Committees for St. Paul’s Church and Holy Family Church, as an honorary Catholic, as well as serving for a dozen years at the DECH in the Stroke Unit (4NW). He loved the 6 am club at the YM/YWCA. Gary sat on boards with the YM/YWCA, Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB) and then the national organization (TIAC). Gary was very proud of the TIAC team’s success in securing $30M for Canada’s tourism budget. He also enjoyed his time on the board with the American Hotel Association. Gary loved his work with the Wandlyn, stating that he “really loved the people”. Gary was part of Probus, and The Golden Club in a variety of outreach roles. He enjoyed working with UNB in his retired years, having always loved his alma mater deeply. He rarely missed a UNB Reds game, and in the last couple of years enjoyed attending the games with his son-in-law, Andrew Hoyt.

Gary loved many things, travel, food, gatherings with friends, spending time with family, nature, animals of all kinds, the beach (especially on PEI), debating politics, sharing jokes, laughing, and when he was close enough to someone, to tease – his sister Karen vouches for this. Gary was a very special individual who lit up every room he walked into, made people feel great, and always was happy to see you. Dad was known to have the skill in not talking about himself but demonstrating a sincere effort in getting to know an individual and remember them.

Gary leaves behind his wife, Carol; daughter, Lita (Andrew); son, Kristian (Nadine); two wonderful granddaughters he adored, Elianne and Elise Llewellyn, and a sweet granddog named Rosie, whose antics he found hilarious.

To say our hearts are broken is an understatement. We find strength in the knowledge that Dad lived a big beautiful life with lots of adventures and knowing there was not much he hadn’t tried. He died as he had lived, on his own terms, with dignity, and a quiet gracefulness.

We cannot say enough great things about the DECH staff, the emergency room, Jenn N. in particular, nurses, Kelsey and Shannon, as well as all of the personnel in 4NW. Also, we couldn’t have been happier to have been under the care of Dr. Jeremy Myles - as our parents have been friends forever, and our dads having had gone to school together. Many thanks as well to the frequent visiting and care from both Reverend Michelle Armstrong, and Father John Jennings.

We are receiving many emails and messages with stories of Dad, and we would like to make a book of them. If you have a story or anything you’d like to share about him, please email Lita at: litallewellyn@yahoo.ca.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, June 12 from 2- 4 pm, at McAdams Funeral Home. Dad’s Celebration of Life will be at Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church - 512 Charlotte St., Fredericton NB, on Friday, June 13, at 11 am. For those unable to attend, the service may be watched at https://vimeo.com/event/5193919

For those who wish, donations in Dad’s memory may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, or the Fredericton SPCA.