Lloyd “Jo” Soluk was a kind man. He was caring, goofy, and loud, and took people under his wing and made them family.
That’s what many of the nearly 100 people said at Soluk’s celebration of life on Friday afternoon. Soluk passed away at the age of 47 on Aug. 1, after a tragic accident involving a garbage disposal truck.
People are gathered at Pandora Ave and Vancouver St for a celebration of life for Lloyd “Jo” Saluk, who died in a garbage disposal truck accident on Aug 1 #yyj pic.twitter.com/5hrsTWNjIF
— Victoria News (@VictoriaNews) August 10, 2018
On Friday, family and friends gathered on the green space at the corner of Vancouver Street and Pandora Avenue, a part of the city Jo would hang out during the 25 years that he would travel back and forth between B.C. and his hometown of Athabasca, Al. In his most recent trip, he arrived to visit his brother’s newborn baby.
Soluk was born Oct. 4, 1970 to Theresa White and Steve Soluk. He is survived by his mother, brothers David, George, Keith, and Richard, his sister Patricia, his son Brandon and his grandchildren Harmony and Lyric.
“He was a kind, caring and loving individual that loved everyone,” said his sister Patricia Soluk. “No matter what was happening, he would always have a smile on his face, say hello and try to make people laugh. He suffered a lot from pain. He had disabilities, and had some injuries and a lot of pain in his body, but he loved his mother, son and his grandchildren so much.”
Friends shared stories of how he would always watch out for them, or make them laugh.
“He helped me out a lot… one night before he passed away I dropped my purse, he picked it up and he gave it to me the next day and everything was in there,” said Kat, who didn’t want to provide her last name. “On the streets that doesn’t happen. It just does not happen.”
A woman named Louise said Jo took her own kids under his wing when they had trouble on the streets.
“He wanted my kids to call him Uncle Jo, and I was his sister,” Louise said. “One time I was have trouble with a guy, and he asked me ‘Is someone troubling you little one?’… So, he just stood there and told the guy ‘Don’t mess with my little sister’ and it wasn’t a problem anymore.
“He may have passed on, but he’ll always be here. Here on this block.”
A Go-fund Me campaign has been set up to go towards Soluk’s grandchildren.
“We’re going to set up a trust fund for his grandkids, in hopes that everything will be taken care of for those two kids because Jo loved them so much and wanted the best for them,” Soluk said. “Hopefully his name is not in vain, and those kids can remember their grandfather and how much he loved him.”
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