Kyle Muldoon is being remembered as loving, generous young man whose life was coming together when it tragically ended.
The popular Flin Flonner was 28 when he died in a vehicle accident near Snow Lake on July 26.
“Kyle is my gladiator son with a soft heart of gold,” says mom Laurel McIntyre. “His smile and eyes had a special twinkle.”
Younger brother Ryan, 26, says that while Kyle put friends and family first, he never spared them some good-natured ribbing.
“He always helped you out, but sometimes he’d like to pick on me,” says Ryan with a hearty laugh. “But you know how brothers are.”
As loyal a son and brother as Kyle was, he was an equally faithful friend who led by example.
One of his best pals, Shale Ferris, first got to know Kyle when the two were in Grade 9 together at Hapnot Collegiate.
Ferris, misbehaving as teenage boys often do, took to bugging Kyle in the hallway one day.
When enough was enough, Kyle pushed Ferris against the lockers – not to hurt him, but to teach him an important life lesson.
“It was to give me a better understanding of how to treat people,” says Ferris. “That’s how he was. He wouldn’t allow anybody to be picked on.”
The boys were friends from that day forward as Ferris continued to learn from Kyle.
“He was just one of the greatest guys I knew,” says Ferris.
Energetic youngster
Born in Edmonton on Nov. 2, 1985, Kyle Edmund Muldoon was a gregarious, energetic youngster whose little legs never stopped moving.
When he was eight, he and his family moved to Flin Flon, where his love for the outdoors blossomed and many new friends entered his life.
A natural athlete, Kyle played on school sports teams, excelling at soccer, basketball and wrestling in particular.
He also participated in minor hockey, and although he was already nine or 10 when he first laced up his skates, he was a quick study.
“People were quite amazed that he had never skated before,” says McIntyre, speculating that Kyle may have inherited that skill from his grandfather, former Flin Flon Bomber Fred Bowman.
By the time he reached Hapnot, Kyle was working out regularly. Friends say that by Grade 9, he was bench pressing an impressive 200-plus pounds.
After graduating from Hapnot in 2003, Kyle worked entry-level jobs at McDonald’s and Canadian Tire before hiring on at Hudbay.
At the time of his passing, he was in his second year of a millwright apprenticeship at the company.
Kyle had bought his own house and dream motorcycle, and had adopted a trustworthy companion, dog Zaya, from the SPCA.
“He was just starting to kind of open up and really get on with his life,” says aunt Nancy Chlan. “Things were going good for him.”
Apples of eye
As much as Kyle connected with Zaya and other animals, the apples of his eye were niece Elizabeth, 2, and nephew Thomas, born earlier this year.
“When Elizabeth was born, you could just see a change in Kyle,” says Chlan. “He was really becoming very nurturing and very caring.”
That may have been so, but there was still a mischievous part of Kyle that refused to grow up – much to his delight.
One of his hallmark pranks was sneaking up behind his mother and blowing in her ear to startle her.
“It was his thing,” says McIntyre with a smile. “He would just laugh – ‘gotcha.’”
Another trademark of Kyle’s was his big-heartedness.
Older brother Garret, 32, says Kyle spent years talking about how the Muldoons needed to take a vacation to a nice warm place.
Finally he got tired of talking. In 2010, Kyle funded a weeklong holiday to Cuba for the entire family.
“It was awesome,” says Garret, recalling the ocean views, fishing and snorkelling.
Such stories don’t surprise another buddy of Kyle’s, Shawn Bowman.
“He cared so much for everyone that was in his life, and he would give you the shirt off his back even if it meant he would freeze,” says Bowman.
Remarkable
What many found remarkable about Kyle was how he maintained his perseverance – and smile – during some physically trying times.
Kyle had Crohn’s disease, a painful inflammatory bowel condition that went undiagnosed for years until last fall.
He rarely let the disease keep him away from work or anything else he wanted to do.
“This strong will to keep going through all the pain and problems developed at the age of three,” says McIntyre. “Like a little bull in a china shop – always getting banged up but never fazed – he’d keep on going.”
And keep going he would have, had tragedy not taken him away from those he loved.
At a celebration of life for Kyle this past Saturday, Aug. 2, guests shared many more memories of Kyle, from his enduring squinty smile and politeness to his tranquil presence.
As difficult as the loss has been, Ferris bears in mind a comment he heard that perhaps Kyle was too good for this flawed world.
Ferris is sure that his friend is in a better place now.
