Obituary of Kelly Earl Lardner

On Thursday, May 9, 2024, Kelly Lardner passed away at the age of 64 in Saskatoon after a hard fought battle with cancer. Kelly is remembered for his sharp wit, passion for the outdoors, adventurous spirit and fierce dedication to his family and friends.

Kelly was born in Saskatoon on October 10, 1959 to Don and Earla Lardner. He graduated from Clavet High school in 1977. He was one of those students that numbers came easily to. After graduating high school, he attended business college in Moose Jaw and had a short, but successful stint as a broker. In 1990, he bought Lardner’s Trailer Sales. While being a businessman in the community was a huge part of Kelly’s life, “business” was not what he found most rewarding. He took great pride in all the families he was able to provide opportunities for. He was honoured to help families with their family vacations. He also found it very satisfying that he was able to help families by providing employment opportunities. He felt like we were all one big family and was so proud of everyone that worked at Lardner’s. He never wanted to be the biggest dealership in Saskatchewan. He just wanted to offer the best. He and his spouse Shelley were able to retire together in 2019.

Kelly will continue to be remembered and loved by his spouse Shelley Russell. He and Shelley were very proud to have three daughters. Kate, Carly (Ken) and Danna (Caalen). He was ecstatic to be “silly Papa” to his little “Pickle” Freya, his Grandson the “Amazing” Finn, his other grandson the “fist bumping” James, his “Smiley” Linley and gentle baby Iris. He is also survived by his mother Earla, brother Garth and Garth’s family.

The family we created was everything to him. He was passionate about time spent in the mountains and loved sharing those experiences with his family. However, he would gladly give up days in his beloved mountains to make sure he was there for important events. Kelly loved making things special at the lake, building snow forts for us to have winter wiener roasts at home, and creating nature trails for all the family and the dogs. He was so looking forward to teaching the kids how to fly fish, ski with him, and do some mountain biking. All things he loved.

A voracious learner, expert tinkerer, ice cream aficionado. A stubborn force to be reckoned with. Funny, sweet, intelligent, extremely competent with everything he decided to tackle. There is so much more that could and should be said, but in the end, what he did was make our world better. We love and miss you KL.

Thank you to the nurses and doctors at the Cancer Centre, RUH, the Palliative Care team and the Hospice at Glengarda. No memorial service will be held. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations can be made to the Kimberley Nature Park Society, where he spent so much of his time and felt strongly about preserving.

You smiled, you smiled
Oh, and then the spell was cast 
And here we are in Heaven 
For you are mine at last