PS from Jo Ellis

Very dear Carol, I am sorry Mike had to leave you so quickly. Little time for you to prepare; trace a course on the map, pack a bag, close the door of the house.
Thank you for sharing the thoughts of your friends as they described their relationship with Mike. I came to know him as a person this way. A lovely man indeed, a man of many dimensions.
I mourn Mike's passing, Carol. Wish we could all stay forever -- as advisors, perhaps.  How this planet would whirl with the voices of our souls.
Bill and I, our thoughts are with you and the children,
With much love, J.

A note from Joe

A note to Mike and Carol,  

my hands have always been better use in the dirt than trying to put words on paper, but I need to let you know how much I have loved being able to cross that awesome red bridge into your garden of Peace ( inturrupted by Victors welcoming bark ), Love ( of each other,family,friends,and nature-despite the odd tomatoe eating deer ), and Happiness ( the infectious sunshine of your smiles ! )

Thinking of you, paint brush in hand…

                                                                     Joe

Post Script from Audrey Bean

Dear Carol, thank you for your account of yesterday - the essentials simply put. I ache for the hollowness you and Alison must feel today - so many shades of loss are involved. What is comforting to me is to have read the blog, as it gives me an inkling, in their own words, of the members of your terrific circle. So to the extent that solace lies there, you will have it. Here in one of your other circles, Montreal has had its finest snowfall of the winter. I skied for an hour on Mt. Royal today - the blue trail circles up to the cross, which is as handsome up close as it is from a distance, but in a different way. Of course, my thoughts turned to you and Mike, Montrealers at heart. John sends his love - he has been reminiscing about early days, and some of it may make its way into an email . In the meantime, our love is winging its way west to you and and Alison. Audrey
       

Post script from Fred Schloessinger

Hi Carol,
I was away for 3 weeks in Calif, and when I returned yesterday, I heard the sad news. I will miss Mike, his wicked humour, his crossword puzzle mania, of which I know nothing… his love of books, his love of the garden and the Island. My heart goes out to you and Alison, who had so little time to adjust to his decline. Stay well, and if there is anything I can do, please let me know.  hugs, Fred

Post script from John Lepage

Dear Carol,
 
Pam and I have just heard about Mike's death, and I wanted to pass on our most heartfelt sympathies. We are travelling in Mexico and have not been in touch, and so we were shocked to have this news. I want you to know that of all my senior colleagues Mike was the one to whom I most looked for kindred feeling, intellectual fellow-feeling, and humour. As a middle-aged fogey I looked to Mike's faux gruffness as a gesture of shared humanity. We shared a fondness for the unusual power of words that made me go to him when I needed a smile or a laugh. Mike hated the word "centre" applied to a building. He loved and collected the names of students who could not spell their own names, as he put it, like Micheal for Michael.  He loved unwitting puns, like the sailor changing his tact. Once, when I was dean, he came to me to indicate he was in trouble because he had used bad language in the classroom and certain students had objected to it. In spite of my reassurances, he insisted that he deserved some form of recrimination because he had acted inappropriately out of his love of the drama of the moment. Nothing came of it in the end, because nothing could not come of it and because his students, who loved him, could not complain. I loved Mike's humanity, which well bespoke our faculty, and from what I have just now heard, Mike carried that humanity and all its dignity into the last moments of his life. I will miss him dearly, and I am so sorry for you and Alison that he had to go. It is moments like this that put me in touch with my own mortality, and when I survey my own life I worry about the lack of dignity next to that modelled by great people like Mike. In your middle age you begin to realize how little time there is in order to make good on life. Mike made good on life.
 
You have all our sympathies and  best wishes - John (for Pam)
 

Blog entry from Alison's friend Deborah deMille

My deepest condolences.  Thinking of you so much and decided to write my own blog about your Dad. Hope you and your Mum are hanging in there.  Love to you all.
http://deborahdemille.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/safe-journey-mike/

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoDeb

February 25, 2012

At noon today, Mike escaped into another realm, like the white dog in Marshall Soules’ collage, like the way he disappeared in Bill Gaston’s dream.

Alison and I had been with him throughout the week, and he was visited by some much loved family members and friends. He signalled with raised eyebrows or frowns that he understood the conversations we were having as we “talked amongst ourselves.” There were many other dear  friends and family members who were not able to see him during these short two weeks, including his much admired older brother who arrived at the hospital just after Mike had died.

He was very well cared for in Nanaimo Hospital’s Palliative Care unit. I stayed overnight in Mike’s room  last night and was with him during the night when he was wakeful. This morning he was awake a lot and, when it was time, he was really ready to go and he just took off. Alison and I were with him, each holding a hand, on either side of the bed, with Victor lying quietly at his feet. We were very proud of his brave endurance of pain and his determined departure.

He had a good life and, we think, no regrets. He’d never been in hospital until all this began last fall.  As John Tucker said when he first heard Mike was ill, "Some people feel too strong to be thus afflicted. Mike is one of them." His life was too short, but we’re glad that his suffering was brief.

There was no one like him, and he will be with us forever.

Thank you all for your love and support. We read your messages to him every day and feel sure that they gave him comfort, as they did us.