I found out yesterday that one of my colleagues, Alain Letourneau, passed away overnight. He was just 41. He died of a brain hemorrhage after he fell and banged his head while shopping at a local mall.
The crazy thing is that nobody, including Alain himself, really expected him to last to a ripe old age: he had been the recipient of a heart transplant, and he was frequently battling low-grade rejection while suffering from weakened kidneys. But by dying from something as random and universally applicable as slipping and falling, Alain managed to inject healthy dose of perspective into all of our lives. Did you live your life today the way that you would have if it was your last day? is one of the few things I can think about. As cliched as it may be, I think it's a perfectly appropriate reminder to take away from Alain's death.
I'm going to miss Alain. In the few months that we worked together, I felt like we had already developed a close bond. He had studied philosophy and loved coffee; enough said. He had worked in the New York public library system in the Bronx straight out of library school, in near poverty, and I was looking forward to hearing stories about his time there. Alain had no family in Sudbury, not even a girlfriend. He told me several times that he did not love himself enough to reproduce himself, but he could love a woman enough to want to reproduce her... then he would sigh, and say "Ah well, but it seems that there is no woman for me" and shrug off any suggestion that that was nonsense. Maybe he wasn't cut out for romantic relationships, but I enjoyed our too-brief working relationship.
So this morning I went for a nice, long walk with Lynn and Amber, then puttered around the house most of the rest of the day. I planted some mint and chives out back, mowed more of the lawn, and pedalled around town to take care of a few errands. Life is a little greyer with Alain's passing, but it is very clear to me that my life is very good.
Today is Alain's birthday. He would have been 42. Feeling a little sad today, thinking about Alain as I often do. We had observed that May 10th had been a very bad day for me, not because it was his birthday but for other personal reasons. We also recalled fondly a famous Montreal Canadiens hockey game that ended favourably on May 10, 1979. Alain had watched it in Chicoutimi while I was in Laval. Years later, we became friends at McGill.
I last saw Alain a year ago in April 2006 when he visited me. When he departed, I knew somehow it was the last time I would see him alive. He had much enthusiasm for life and it was sad to see him like that. Maybe he knew he was dying, I don't know. I regret his loss and I thank Dan Scott for initiating the memorial.
At one point a number of us were working down in New York. He worked briefly for Brooklyn Public Library until health problems and BPL bureaucracy compelled him to return to Montreal. Mind you, he hated Brooklyn so maybe that turn of events wasn't altogether a bad thing.
I was very happy for him when he got his job at Laurentien. He seemed quite happy there. And I wasn't aware of there being lingering health problems after his operation. So I was shocked by his death. Already, two of my library school classmates gone. Makes me think...
Même si nos chemins ne se sont croisés que pendant un court temps, tu nous a marqués pour la vie... Tu resteras toujours dans nos pensées.
Nous nous considérons priviligiés d'avoir passé avec toi ces derniers moments à Ottawa dont nous nous gardons de bons souvenirs... Le salon de thé avec toi et Fred... les blagues que tu faisais, même sur ton coeur... la rigolade avec Alexis... la crème glacée.
Alain, tu seras toujours présent dans notre coeur et tu fais partie de nos prières.
Tout notre amour,
Louis et Rima.
J’etais sans nouvelles de toi depuis longtemps, mais je n’osai t’ecrire de peur d’apprendre une mauvaise nouvelle.
Nous ne nous sommes pas connu tres longtemps, mais suffisamment pour t’apprecier, tu vas me manquer Alain.
Nous avons travaille ensemble au CDEACF a l’ete 1998, pour la normalisation de leur catalogue de bibliotheque. Je me rappelle d’un bel apres-midi ou nous nous sommes installes sur une terrasse du vieux Montreal, avec Richard, Jean-Sylvain et une jeune (et jolie) graphiste…
Tu etais aussi amateur de football. Un jour, nous nous sommes retrouve dans un bar (encore!) pour regarder une partie de Coupe du monde de soccer, cette journee la, tu m’as fait quelques confidences et tu m’avais parle de tes problemes de sante.
Je pense a toi, Alain
Jacques
(Excusez le message sans accent)
PS : Thanks very much Dan Scott for your blog
Je suis assise à ta vieille place et j'apprends que tu n'es plus de ce bas monde. Aurevoir Alain.
Puisse ton âme se reposer en paix!
Une ex-collègue