August 11, 1929 — December 24, 2024

Al passed away peacefully at Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home at the age of 95.

He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but grew up in Haney, BC.  Al was the oldest of three boys, all of whom became barbers. He went to barber school and apprenticed with Al Clark in his shop in Haney (Maple Ridge). He took up the trumpet at a very early age, and he was a natural. He joined an all-Black jazz band in the early 50’s that played at the Harlem Nocturne and all the sleepy clubs in East Vancouver. He shared many stories of playing with Ernie King and other musicians.

He was also quite the entrepreneur. He built himself a trailer barbershop, which he would tow up into the Fraser Canyon when they had construction sites rebuilding the Canyon Highway. He would work at the job sites cutting hair from his mobile barber shop, and on the weekends, he would park the trailer behind the hotel in Boston Bar and go into Vancouver to play in the jazz band.

Al travelled as a replacement barber for those who were running a one-chair shop. He worked in Dawson Creek, Bralorne, Wells and Ocean Falls. When his youngest brother, David, wasn’t in school, his mother would make him take David with him. During those times, he taught David, who would have been 12, how to drive any vehicle he owned at the time, taught him about guns and how to use them safely, and they would gold pan together.

He and his younger brother, Albert, who was one year younger than Al, would ride the rails across Canada to Toronto. Several times they would jump a freight train, hiding in a boxcar as they made their way across the country. At one point, the brothers decided to open a little roadside cafe in Ft. Nelson Mile 300 on the Alaska Highway and called it “Al’s Steak House”. Apparently, they never sold any steaks, always saying they had just sold out of them. They flew their younger brother David up there (at their mother’s request) to help run the cafe as they also ran the barbershops on the Air Base and the Army Base, which were left over when the U.S. Army rebuilt the Alaska Highway.

In the mid 1950’s, Al and Albert closed the cafe and moved to Prince George and opened up Al’s Barbershop on George Street, which was very successful for them.  Both brothers were good golfers and competitive curlers in Prince George.

Al met the love of his life, Evelyn, in Prince George in 1958. They married in 1959 and had two children, Joseph (Joey) in 1960 and Michelle in 1962. In 1966, they moved to Kamloops, and Al opened LaChance’s Barber Shop in the Plaza Hotel, where he worked until he retired in 2014.

Al decided to try skiing with his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters when he was 69. On the drive up to Sun Peaks, he picked up a snow boarder who was hitchhiking at Heffley Creek. By the time he arrived at the hill, he declared he wasn’t going to take up skiing – he was going to take up snowboarding!  He did just that, and within two years, he became a certified snowboard instructor teaching up at Sun Peaks.

Al simply loved life. He loved his family, his home, his relatives, friends and neighbours, loved his garden and growing his delicious tomatoes, loved driving his restored 72 Chevelle SS, loved going to work, seeing old customers and meeting new ones, hearing stories and telling stories, jokes and laughing, loved walking home from work after a long day of standing on his feet all day, loved sunny days, loved golfing in the hot sun (it was never too hot for him), loved showing everyone his “new swing” and practicing chipping in his backyard, loved competitive curling and playing pool, loved playing his trumpet with local musicians or along with Miles Davis or Chet Baker blasting from his living room speakers. Al managed to squeeze every drop out of life. He lived a full, happy, remarkable life and will be deeply missed by all who loved him.

Al is predeceased by his son, Joseph (1976), and brother, Albert (2014). He is survived by his loving wife Evelyn, daughter Michelle (Mitch) and granddaughters Breanne (Braydon) and Caelan (Justin) and his brother, David LaChance.

Our family would like to thank Dr. Sarah Trudeau for her kind compassion towards Al in his last days.

A celebration of Al’s life will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, friends may wish to donate to the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home.

• Date : 2024-12-24
• Location : Kamloops