Obituary of Daniel Scott Arseneault

July 13, 1987 - Calgary, Alberta
December 17, 2021 - Calgary, Alberta

Daniel Scott Arseneault of Calgary, AB, passed away suddenly on Friday, December 17, 2021, at the age of 34 years.

Daniel was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on July 13, 1987. He spent his childhood growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, before returning to Calgary in 1998.

Daniel is survived by his mother Betty, his father Jean, and his brother Brian, as well as his "sisters" Clarissa and Francesca, and his beloved "niece" Ruby. Daniel is also survived by his large extended family in Jakarta, Indonesia, and New Brunswick, Canada, as well as his extensive friend network throughout Canada, the US, and the world. Finally, Daniel is survived by his prized car, Midnight, who had been contracted to be rebuilt twice, and whom he bragged about often.

How do you capture such a unique life in a few words? My brother was an unusual man, and as such we decided an unusual obituary was called for. Below are the pieces three of us wrote for him, one of them mine and the other two from his very close friends.

Condolences, memories, and photos can also be shared and viewed here.

From Brian Arseneault:

There are two kinds of people, astronomers and astronauts; the kind who read and learn about things, and the kind who go do things. Although my brother and I shared many things in common, in this manner we were opposites. I was the always the one who stayed home reading about it and Daniel was always the one out there doing it. He envied my academic side but in turn I envied his audacious adventuring. He was actually the one who inspired me to attend the Comic Expo in costume. After several years of watching him develop his creativity and costuming skills, I built up the courage to ask him the steps and the rules and the procedures and he simply said "just pick someone you want to dress up as and do it." He always seemed to make everything so simple.

Everything his big brother did, Daniel had to do, and had to do better. And being better always came so easily to him. He never had any patience to do things step by step. He was already good at whatever he tried, and quickly became great at it, so he never could be bothered with going through the motions. My brother got bored quickly when he found he was good at something, and always looked for the next new challenge to excel at.

Daniel briefly went to culinary school, university, music school, joined the military, and took up handyman crafting, and then prop-making, to name a few of his passions. He also valued his physical strength and martial prowess and went undefeated during his time pursuing competitive kickboxing. One of his proudest moments was knocking out an opponent (also previously undefeated) who was heavily favoured to beat him, and was initially built up as being the one to end my brother's fighting career.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Daniel also loved an endless number of hobbies which he was skilled at. On Halloween, he'd push himself to create increasingly interesting costumes and pumpkin displays every year (and once even made his friend a matching costume when they told him they'd probably be too busy to participate in Halloween!) His cooking for family and friends was always new and experimental while still masterfully crafted. Even when it came to gift-giving he was skilled, his gifts were always amazingly unique, unusual items that were otherwise impossible to find. I never knew how he did it.

Daniel's talents at video games were second to none, and I remember he kept track of being kicked out of video game sessions under suspicion of cheating. While most anyone may have been offended for being wrongfully accused, my brother thought it was amusing and kept a tally of the number of times fellow players found his flawless gaming skills to be indistinguishable from programmed mechanical precision.

My brother had an eventful life, even if it was cut short, and he was quite the storyteller. A friend of mine noted that we should practice saying "allegedly" when we share some of his stories in the future. For example, there's a great story, allegedly, about the time with the canoe. (My thanks to his friends for sharing that story, by the way. My mother has been chuckling about it for two days.)

His friends all say the same things that I know about him, Daniel was loyal to a fault, and he was very proud. He never ran from anything, even if he should have. He was indeed a very proud man, which was his greatest strength and his ultimate weakness. Profoundly loyal, he would take pride in going above and beyond and being the best help for whatever situation you asked for his help in. But that same pride prevented him from asking for help whenever he needed it the most. He struggled with opening up about his problems later in his life and did his best to hide his disease, preferring to push people away instead of letting us help him (for a change) when he got sick. His pride couldn't allow for us to watch his condition worsen, I suppose. I hope he knows how much we all love him, troubles and all.

Daniel's life was uniquely his own style up to the end, and even the inconvenient timing of his death was a matter of amusement to his friends. It was perfectly in character, he had a way of getting everyone to abandon all their plans and come to hang out with him, no matter how busy everyone was. Even Daniel's larger than life stories continued right to the very end. His body was confiscated by the government without warning a day before his funeral, a real life X-Files black van type of deal, a detail Daniel would have laughed and bragged about endlessly. Even in that wildly stressful incident, his friends also found humour. It was classic Daniel, another detail too bizarre to make up. At the same time, they boasted, it was also classic Daniel in the way it was quickly resolved. His body was returned and his funeral proceeded on the original planned day, because there was no way he was going to miss one last wing night at the pub afterwards.

I had a hard time figuring out how to end this piece until I was helping tidy his room. My brother and I shared a love of superheroes and cartoons growing up. I found this written on his door and I've tried to preserve the quirks of his handwritten note as best as I could digitally. I feel it summarizes his shameless geekiness, his endless loyalty, and his fiercely protective nature, and I hope it brings people the same comfort it brought me to find it.

Superman
Don't...
-"It's why I'm here..."
Is everyone okay...?
...Yes Superman you died did it. Everyone is safe.
Good... That's... all that matters...

From Jamie Hackl:

Daniel was a truly unique person. He had an insatiable appetite for having fun and living life to the fullest. What Dan didn’t care about he didn’t care about. What he did care about he really cared about. Dan took the things he cared about very seriously. Dan had to be the best. He had to be the best at elastic band wars and kick the can. He had to be the best at Smash Bros and Tekken. He had to be the best at Muay Thai, boxing, and MMA. He had to be the best at hanging out and partying. He took these things very seriously. Usually, Dan was the best. He was the best at Tekken. He medaled in his first Muay Thai tournament. And as many people will tell you he was the best to hang out with one on one or to party with.

When you spent time with Daniel it was like being in another reality. Daniel lived outside the normal rules of society and his unique perspective and take on life is what was so magnetizing about him. When you were with Dan you felt like all that mattered was having fun, living your life, and not worrying about whatever anyone else thought. One time I asked Dan how many cookies he took at a time from the box. I always took four and that was never enough but five seemed like too many. I didn’t want society to judge me as a five cookie taker. But Dan didn’t care about that. He told me he took the entire box and ate them until he didn’t want any more. His solution was something I didn’t even know was an option. That was how Dan approached everything in life. He did it until he didn’t want to anymore and there is nobody who could tell him otherwise or convince him that any other option was viable. It was his blessing and his curse.

Daniel struggled with finding meaning later in his life. He never wanted to settle down and live a ‘normal’ life. That was not Dan. I don’t know if he ever found meaning for himself. All I know is that his life was meaningful to his Mother, his Brother, his Father, and all his family. His Life was meaningful to his friends and everyone who knew him. Dan your life was meaningful to me. We love you and we miss you.

From Travis Harris:

Being Dan's friend was a whirlwind of fun, he had this innate ability to draw people in and loved keeping everyone connected. He always had an adventure planned for us; Whether it was playing video games, elastic band wars or sneaking out to be general menaces. Daniel was also fiercely loyal to those he cared about and would do anything for you.  He knew when to tell us if we messed up and lend his ideas on how best to clean up our messes.  As someone who gave everything he could to his relationships and ultimately a piece of himself to all lives that he touched, he was also guarded, slightly mysterious and lived an imaginative life.  He really only allowed those around him to see and hear what he thought they wanted or should know and did not always let others in to see the true Dan.   He was an incredibly large part of our lives and we are forever grateful for the time we had.   Sadly, Daniel left this world far too early in life. He has found the peace he deserves and hopefully can finally see the impact he had on those whose lives he touched in such a unique and caring way. He will be missed.

In living memory of Daniel Scott Arseneault, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Fish Creek, 14441 Bannister Road SE, Calgary, AB T2X 3J3, Telephone: 403-256-9575.