Moving here from Canada, one of the things that I loved the most, was that my siblings never treated him like "Oh, he's Kirsty's partner, we should be nice to him". They loved him as a brother, and their friendship was obvious from the amount of times they all hung out together - often without me even being there.
Sometime in early January 2000, my sister Kirsty and I, who were both living at home at the time, started fighting over using the internet.
Before long I found out it was because she was chatting to some guy from Winnipeg, Canada.
Three years later, in September 2003 we said goodbye to Kirsty as she headed off to spend a year exploring the Great White North and to meet the love of her life.
In 2004 she brought him back home for us to meet. Chris and I hit it off like a house on fire, he loved music and his love for Kirsty was obvious; it wasn’t long before Chris made it apparent he was not going to leave.
And we gained another brother.
We also gained a deeper appreciation for John Williamson (who knew Home Among the Gum Trees was actually a ‘cool’ song), koalas, wombats, the ocean and all the other natural beauty that Australia has to offer. And before we knew it Chris taught us more about cricket then we ever cared to know.
But it was never one sided. Thanks to Chris we were introduced to real mayonnaise, Canadian bacon, kitchen table hockey and hot wings with blue cheese dip.
The one thing though that broke across all cultural barriers was our mutual love for the UFC and all forms of Martial Arts.
Chris loved his Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do training, as well as running. His positivity was effective and influenced us all.
Chris never judged, Always accepted and never condemned
Except in the case of mixed martial artist, Brock Lesner because that guy is a terrible trainer that grated on Chris’s love for people who tried.
Chris was a true martial artist. He didn’t train to be a fighter; he trained to improve himself and we all admired Chris’ never ending determination to better himself and to encourage those around him to do the same.
Chris was our hot chili loving Canadian, who appreciated a great bottle of scotch, a good glass of wine and could cook a dish that would impress even Masterchef’s George and Gary.
And if we had a BBQ, and steak was cooking, Chris was the Tong Master. You can be assured if he was taking Kirsty on a date it would be to a restaurant that served only the finest.
Since Monday messages have been flooding in around the world on Facebook for Chris that has brought great comfort to us, Kirsty and Chris’s family back home.
From 13 year old Cody Cashin in Carmacks, Canada “I’ll always miss and you are one of the nicest people I've ever met. You taught me almost everything i know... I'll miss you.”
From Rafael in Seville, Spain “I am only sorry now I can not myself carry him to the Elysiuum on my shoulders. I don’t know what I would have been without him”
From Jaci in Perth, Western Australia “A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone. You sir, were a king amongst men, if this quote is true!”
From Zulieka in Switzerland “Through facebook he was a part of my everyday with his silly little quips, cheesy quotes, and humorous tidbits of information. He often made me drool with his culinary experiments and I could always count on seeing Snoopy and the Peanut gang replacing his profile pic during the holidays”
From Jennifer King in BC, Canada “The world lost one of its brightest stars today. RIP Chris Friesen. Your generosity of spirit and kind heart touched many and was an inspiration to me. You will be missed by so many.”
Reports are flooding in for candles being lit for Chris today from Innisfail, Queensland through to Adelaide. South Australia. From Camberly, Britain to Southern California.
Further to this donations are being made from Sydney to Vancouver to the RSPCA on behalf of Chris. Chris’s passion and love for animals was evident to everyone starting with his obsession with wombats to his and Kirsty’s much loved fur-babies Ollie and Milly.
While Chris and Kirsty never had children of their own, you could never say they were child-less. With great pride he talked about his nieces and nephews in Canada and he actively maintained a special relationship with his Aussie nephews.
His title of Uncle was one he wore with pride.
While everyone knows what a great aunty Kirsty is, it was Chris who taught Noah to play golf in the backyard, supervised watching YouTube video clips and showed him how to scratch it up on DJ Hero.
Chris – my friend, my brother.
We will always miss you, We’ll never forget you
And when we see you again
We know it’s going to be
Legen…..
Wait for it
….
Dary!
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