Homer L Burgoyne

Homer (Sonny) Louis Burgoyne Jr., most recently of Tupper Lake, passed away on May 11, 2024 at the age of 82. He was born on May 30, 1941 to Lusha (Farnham) and Homer Louis Burgoyne Sr. of Lake Placid, NY.  Sonny attended Lake Placid School and began his music career while still in high school as a singer, self-taught guitarist and keyboard player. From the mid-1950s through the 1980s, he performed with nearly every musician in the North Country and most of his family members. He made professional appearances throughout Florida, Virginia and the Carolinas, and continued to draw in fans whenever he visited the Tri-lakes, until he became partially paralyzed as the result of a fall in 2014. 

Besides being a life-long musician, Sonny managed several food and beverage businesses over the years. He worked with the physically and developmentally challenged and did apartment building maintenance. He also loved picking up older model cars to repair and refurbish, often re-selling them or gifting them to his kids.

A true charmer until the day he died, Sonny was blessed to marry three beautiful ladies during his lifetime, whom he continued to praise and speak well of long after their marriages ended. As the Journey song says, “Lovin' a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be.” Wives Vicky (Vondell) and Judy (Durham) gave him four of his five children. Wife, Cindy (Brantley) led him to the church, where he found yet another kind of family.  After fracturing his neck in 2014, doctors predicted Sonny would never be able to walk and take care of himself. With stubborn determination, he proved them wrong. Thanks to the love and dedication of son Randy and daughter-in-law Rita Burgoyne and the extended Boushie clan in Tupper Lake, dad/grandpa/Sonny had a comfortable home and a measure of independence for the last eight years of his life, something for which he was eternally grateful.

Sonny is predeceased by his parents, sister Jackie Koller, brothers Garry and Russell Burgoyne, his first wife Victoria (Vondell, Willett, Whittemore) and brother in-law and bandmate, Howard Daby. He is survived by sister Sharon Daby of Lake Placid, brother Stanley Burgoyne (Debbie Moyer) of Satsuma, Florida; ex-wives Judy Durham of St. Augustine, Florida and Cynthia Brantley of Franklin, North Carolina; children Meachele Manchester (Mike Sardella) of Saranac Lake, Buddy (Barbie) Burgoyne of Trenton, Florida, Randy (Rita) Burgoyne of Tupper Lake, and Brad Driggers (Sierra Hostetter) and Brent Burgoyne (Jennifer Civitillo) of St. Augustine, Florida; 17 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; as well as many nieces, nephews and extended family members.

Sonny’s ashes will join those of his father and brothers on Mount Joe, near the site of their old hunting cabin. A celebration of his life for friends and family members will be held on Sunday, June 2nd from 2pm-6pm at the Saranac Lake Elks Club. The family wishes to extend heartfelt gratitude to the staff of Mercy Living Center in Tupper Lake for their compassionate care of dad and us during the final weeks of his life. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations to the Tupper Lake Community Food Pantry be made in Sonny's name through the Fortune- Keough Funeral Home.