Obituary of Brian K. Strickland

Brian Strickland, 37, of 140 Trowbridge Road, passed away unexpectedly on February 18th, 2023, at Manchester Memorial Hospital. He was the son of Kenneth and Cynthia (Newbury) Strickland, born to them August 1st, 1985.  

Brian was born to stand out in the best of ways having been diagnosed with autism around age 3. He was always happy and always smiling, leaving everyone around him feeling the same. The only time he wasn’t happy was when you told him “no” to food. His love for Doritos, hot dogs, cheese, and birthday cake, ran very deep. 

During the last 10 years, Brian went to his day program at Opportunity Works CT. Some of his favored tasks as a self-proclaimed office assistant in training were shredding papers, making copies, and hole punching. He cherished his 1:1 Judi, who was always right next to him to lend a helping hand and advocate for him when needed.  

At home, Brian loved watching his beloved Barney, The Goonies, The Jungle Book, and Ernest Goes to Camp. You would always find him wearing his headphones cuddled up with his iPad. On his birthday and sometimes on random occasions he enjoyed a special past time helping blow up balloons with helium and letting them fly high in the sky.  

Brian was extremely loved by his family, the staff at OWC, and his caretakers at the group home in which he resided for the last 16 years. He wasn’t a man of many words, but he had A LOT of love to go around to everyone. On the outside, Brian stood tall at 6’3” and may have looked intimidating to a stranger. Especially since he loved touching everyone’s hair. However, anyone that knew him saw him as the gentle giant he truly was, wanting just one more hug and one more kiss. He saved his best kisses for his beloved Mom’s hair every time he saw her.  

Brian is survived by his loving parents Kenneth and Cynthia; his brother Eric (Tina) Strickland; his niece and nephews Ryan, Tyler, and Britney Strickland of Coventry; his grandfather Robert Newbury of Tolland; his uncle John (Amie) Strickland of New Hampshire; his aunt Sandra (Dale) Wetzler of Vernon; his aunt Claudia (John) Maulucci of Stafford Springs; his uncle Wayne (Deborah) Newbury of Florida. He is predeceased by his maternal grandmother Barbara Newbury of Tolland and paternal grandparents Myron (Shirley) Strickland of New Hampshire. He also leaves behind many cousins and second cousins, who he enjoyed growing up with. 

Please join us for his Celebration of Life by wearing red, blue, yellow, green, purple or orange to represent Autism and the happy, smiling, bright person Brian was every day. This is for both the calling hours and the memorial service. Family and friends are invited to the John F. Tierney Funeral Home, 219 W. Center St., in Manchester on Friday, February 24th from 4-7 pm. A funeral home service will be held on Saturday, February 25th at 10 am followed by a burial at Center Cemetery in Coventry, 1405 Boston Tpke.  

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that monetary donations be made in memory of Brian to Opportunity Works Connecticut (OWC), 45 W. Main Street, Vernon Rockville, CT 06066.