Sam (Gord) Roy

Gordon Roy known as Sammy. My younger & only brother in a family of 5. The 4 girls miss their brother deeply. Diagnosed in 1985 he knew he didn’t have much longer to live. He passed away November 10, 1993. Our lives forever ever changed. He was a force when he walked into a room it lit up his smile was infectious. His love was enormous and no matter what he faced he faced it with dignity, patience, understanding, and love. His partner at the time of his death, Rich, Was a godsend to our family. He took Sammy loved him cared for him. They had a beautiful home together in Vancouver British Columbia, and stayed with them until the very end. To this day, Rich is still part of our family and always will be. Church St., Toronto, my brother’s favourite place to be mine as well. The amount of time years, the amount of laughter and memories I have a Church Street and my brother will stay with me until the day I die.

His love for flowers was incredible without fail every single Friday he went to St. Lawrence market and bought fresh flowers. His house always had fresh flowers in them.

His favourite was bird of paradise and whenever I see that flower, I always think of my little brother. We were extremely close when I turned 30 I came out of the closet. He welcomed me into LGBTQ2 Family with open arms.

My son at the time is 12 years old and we decided to send him to Vancouver for two weeks in the summer of 1993 to spend time with his uncle that he loved to the moon and back. The memories he still holds from that are incredible. He’s now 46.

My brother came out to the family when he was almost 13 years old we embraced it from the day he told us.
Our mother was extremely accepting my older sister had a little bit of a hard time with it, but she came around and the rest of us just loved seeing him living his life that made him so happy. He was a friend, a brother, a son, an uncle and an incredible human being. Our lives for richer just having him in for the short time we did.

We will forever remember him, honour him, and cherish the things that he taught us. Acceptance, caring, love and peace.

We miss you, brother fly high Sammy. You’re with me every day.

Love your sister
Kelly

Favourite Memory
My favourite memory of my brother is one night just after I came out he invited me to Toronto and he was gonna take me to The Rose. Understandably, I was nervous when we got there I went to the washroom to freshen up, and the bathroom door wouldn’t open. I was locked in there. I could hear my brother on the other side of the door yelling “Are you OK in there?” I was trying to shout back no I’m locked in, but I couldn’t stop laughing.

Then I decided the only thing to do was crawl under the door.

Of course, dressed and fully Blacque didn’t work out too well. Just as I was crawling under the door, one of the most attractive women I’ve ever seen walked in and looked down and just started laughing, and both of us couldn’t stop laughing. Finally, my brother open the door and asked what is going on in here saw me on the floor and said “ Jesus, you work fast, don’t you?” Best memory ever!

Message to Loved One
Thank you for teaching me love acceptance, and caring. If I could have five minutes with anyone, it would be you I miss you, baby brother.

HIV Awareness
When my brother was first diagnosed, he came to the family to tell us. Of course it was new. We were scared. We didn’t know anything about HIV/AIDS. He came well prepared he had brochures to talk to us. He told us how it was contracted. How a former partner of his knew he was full-blown AIDS did not tell my brother and they were in a relationship.

His biggest fear was at the time that my husband wouldn’t understand and keep our son away from him. That never happened, My son‘s father was extremely understanding accepting he wanted to know more and he said there was no way in hell that he would ever keep our son away from his uncle.

My brother was an advocate. He always spoke on HIV8 at one point when we lived in Oshawa Ontario. He even had an interview with the local newspaper because he was having such a hard time getting his cocktail that he needed from Oshawa hospital that he could so easily get in Toronto.

To him, it was unfathomable that it wasn’t easy to get the things he needed to help him stay alive. He was never afraid to speak out. He was loud and proud.