Alando “O” Farmer, the owner and namesake behind Big O’s Barbecue in DeKalb, is being remembered by loved ones for his commitment to the community and devotion to a higher power.

He died May 16 at 55.

Alando opened his first restaurant, Big O’s Barbecue, along Pappas Drive in DeKalb, in July 2025.

He worked alongside his wife, Valerie, for years. More recently, she handled the front-end customer service operations for the restaurant and pitched in with cooking and preparing sides and sauces when needed. Alando worked in the kitchen preparing orders.

Previously, the Farmers ran and operated a municipal cleaning service.

A Friday, May 22, Facebook post about Alando’s death credited him as a “great” man who ”poured into everyone, young and old."

Valerie said things took a turn fast with Alando’s passing.

“We didn’t even know he was sick because he was still getting around, doing everything he was supposed to,” Valerie said.

Alando’s daughter, Shaka, shared that sentiment.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, to the very last breath,” Shaka said.

Alando and Valerie got married in August 1991. They would have six children together.

Valerie said she feels like she’s lost her person.

“Me and Alando was always together,” she said. “We were best friends.”

Shaka recalls how Alando always had a love for cars and tinkering with things.

“He was really good with his hands,” Shaka said. “I love art. So, a lot of things that’s around the house, it was him. He fixed everything. It’s hard for a man to match up to my dad. [He] was a jack of all trades.”

Early life

Valerie recalls the lengths to which Alando went to rise above his circumstances.

At age 16, he suffered a leg injury, which she said prompted him to undergo his first major surgery.

“It left him disabled,” Valerie said. “You couldn’t tell it, though.”

But Valerie said Alando’s always been determined. It’s something that Alando’s carried with him everywhere.

In March 2023, when the Farmers first moved to DeKalb, Alando got the idea to start his own cooking business.

What started as a truck operation turned into a walk-up storefront along Pappas Drive with some help from the City of DeKalb.

Valerie said she knows how hard Alando has worked to realize his dreams.

“He’s always had a passion [for] cooking,” Valerie said. “His grandma taught him to cook.”

In July 2025, the Farmers set up their grill to help feed those in need and the homeless, and gave away 250 book bags with school supplies to area students.

It’s clear that Alando had evolved, Valerie said.

“He was in the streets of the south side of Chicago, hanging out and doing his thing,” Alando said.

Valerie pointed to how Alando decided to profess his belief in Jesus Christ in 2000.

Valerie said she’s proud of the man Alando was.

“Alando has really been ministering to a lot of people in the three years he’s been here,” she said.

Shaka said she hopes Alando is remembered by the community as a “force” of nature he was.

“He was a force that God blessed us with,” she said. “He set that example.”

Moving forward

Alando’s son, Tyran, said he thinks his father would be proud to see how the family is holding up in his absence.

In a recent Facebook post, Big O’s Barbecue announced plans to continue running and operating the restaurant, but under the ownership of Valerie moving forward.

“I think he’d be proud to see where we go and to be proud to see us carry on a legacy and the one he’s started,” Tyran said. “He’d be proud to see us stick together, continue to be together, and remain men and women of integrity.”

When asked what, if anything, they may have learned from Alando about what it will take to run the restaurant, Tyran said it’s all about being willing and ready to do the best you can in service to customers.

“You [can] always be willing to serve because that was my father,” Tyran said.

Alando was preceded in death by his mother, Rubystein Farmer, and his grandparents, Jim and Augusta Farmer.

He is survived by his father, Martin Lias, and leaves behind a wife, six children, and 14 grandchildren.