Four young children lose devoted father

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2010 (5187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The widow and four children of a hard-working man shot dead in Saturday’s rampage have taken refuge at a hotel, afraid to go home until family arrives, the shooter is caught and the media glare fades.

Tommy Beardy, 35, was gunned down Saturday evening near 495 Dufferin Ave., while committing an act of kindness, said a family friend.

“At the time of the shooting, he was doing good for someone less well off than he was,” said Micheline Girardin.

“He was actually dropping off food for someone,” said Girardin who got to know Beardy after she and her husband hired him to help them do odd construction jobs at their building in the Exchange District.

“He was a good person,” she said. “That was the kind of message I wanted to make sure got out there. He was not involved in any illicit behaviour or criminal activity or gangs.”

She recalled the day he showed up looking for work four years ago at their building in the Exchange.

“He was on his bike, resume in hand and ready to start right away. Little did we know, he would prove to be the hardest working, most committed guy we ever came across, and we met quite a lot.”

Beardy and his wife, Rhonda, a stay-at-home mom, have four children under 12 years old, Girardin said. “She’s a very quiet, kind person.”

Beardy did odd jobs for Girardin and others, in addition to working full time. His boss and 14 co-workers at Harris Meats and Groceries on Charles Street werestruggling to cope with the tragedy on Monday.

“He was just a good employee, an all-around good guy,” said co-owner Todd Harris. “He was always happy.”

Beardy worked there full time for the last three years, cutting and wrapping meat.

“He was very proud of his wife and kids,” Harris said, after dropping off a care package of groceries for Beardy’s family on Monday.

“Right away people assume ‘they got what they deserve,’ ” Harris said. “With Tommy? Not even close. In the evening he had other jobs. He was on his bike everywhere he went — right through the winter.

“He stopped for a bit last year when he almost got hit a few times,” said Harris, who last saw Beardy on his bike on Saturday. “He was riding with his son.”

Hours later, he was shot dead.

“It’s hard to believe,” said Harris.

“It’s one thing to die of a heart attack or accident,” said Girardin. “To die the way he did? He truly did not deserve that,” she said.

“He was very consistently dependable and very kind and very hard-working,” she said.

Beardy sometimes took his kids to Girardin’s job site to show them what he was working on. Girardin described Beardy as a “fine example of a family man who loved his wife and children.”

Beardy family members in the city and in Garden Hill, and many other relatives, were headed to Winnipeg as funeral arrangements were being made.

“He had a good stability with his family,” said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper, a relative who lived next door to Beardy when he was growing up in Garden Hill.

“He told me he was going to further his education and he did it right away and got hired,” Harper said.

Beardy became a life-long learner who obtained his high school diploma and then went on to take computer courses, Harper said. The last time they spoke, Beardy told him he wanted to go back to school again and study computer programming. “He was on the ball for everything and he wanted to start his own business.”

Now, they want the person who took Beardy’s life caught, and for his loved ones to be able to grieve at home in peace.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca