He was born to ride and died doing what he loved most.
“He loved riding. That was his only hobby,” said his friend of 40 years, Pete Smith. “He was out every day on his bike.”
Bryan Davis, whose nickname was Fur Face after a beard he grown since the 1960s, died Sept. 26, a week after a collision at Finkle Street and Parkinson Road. He was 65.
The crash occurred after a young driver turned left off of Finkle Street into the path of his eastbound bike on Parkinson Road.
Friend Ian McIntrye, who rode with Davis most Sundays, described his friend as “a motorcycle fanatic.”
Every weekend a dozen riders or more would meet at the west-end Tim Hortons, where Davis would instruct them to have their “kickstands up at nine and off to breakfast.” They travelled most of southwestern Ontario together, often making free-spirited travel decisions to destinations like Niagara Falls on the spur of the moment.
Even after they learned of the crash, Davis’s friends still got on their bikes to go for their regular Sunday ride knowing that was what Davis would have wanted.
“He wouldn’t have wanted them to sit there and cry,” Smith said. “Over the years we lost friends riding. You know they wouldn’t want you to quit.”
Davis, although he had once owned one, was also known for his light-hearted teasing of those who rode Harley-Davidsons.
“He didn’t care what you rode as long as you rode,” Smith said.
Davis, known for his “heart as big as Ontario,” was a strong ally to his friends through all the peaks and valleys of life.
“If your bike broke down or you broke down, he was right there,” Smith said. “I don’t think I ever heard him say anything bad about anybody.”
At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, dozens of Davis’ friends will ride from the west-end Tim Horton’s down Dundas Street and across town to the Brock and Visser Funeral Home before the visitation.
“It’s just a tribute to a friend,” McIntyre said. “He was everybody’s friend.”
His friends described the collision as a double tragedy.
“There isn’t one of us who doesn’t feel for that kid,” McIntyre said. “It was an accident. There was no malice intended. The 17-year-old stayed with Bryan until paramedics arrived.”
Born in Burford, Davis was a longtime resident of Woodstock. He worked at Hendrickson International Spring for the past 30 years. He is survived by his daughters Lindsey Bugbee and Katelyn Davis and four grandsons, Bryan, Jesstyn, Daityne and Tryton Bugbee.
Friends say were his family were his “pride and joy.”
heather.rivers@sunmedia.ca
