He was loved by all

He was loved by all. I learned this from his daughter Michele when she recently found me through the wonders of the internet, in an email with the subject “finding original.” This is Dick Ethier in 1989 at the Falmouth Curling Club. I originally shot this photo in January 1989 for the Falmouth Enterprise. It is a small miracle that you are seeing this. 

When I read the email I did not hold much hope of locating this image. It was 32 years ago! However, it wasn’t a lost cause, I do not throw away my photographic history. That said, I also didn’t organize my negatives well and these negatives were likely disposed of by the newspaper long ago. In one of my several stints at the paper I had gotten permission to salvage years of my negatives, but this was well after this image was shot.  

Erica described sitting next to me on the couch at the moment of discovery like being on an archaeological dig. I had exhumed boxes from the basement archives, where thousands of prints lay dormant in the dark, buried under piles of lost memories. In the fourth and final box of work prints, a flawed but decent work print was revealed.

Erica had painstakingly organized both negatives and prints a number of years ago.  Across a dozen moves and more than 30 years, Michele’s dad had traveled with me, with us. It was unbelievable that it appeared in the stacks of photos…”THERE IT IS!”, yet also inevitable. And tomorrow, tomorrow, her Dad, in the form of 5×7 prints, travels back to Michele and her family.  Back in to the light.

The rest I will leave to Michele who I asked to tell me about her dad:

My father passed away in 2003 and my mom just passed away in 2020.   They were the ultimate couple they adored each other.  I had a very close relationship to my dad and actually moved away from NH in Jan 1989 right at the about the same time this picture was taken. He was very sad about me moving to SF as it was very far away from him.  He eventually was proud of my life here and he loved visiting each year with my mom.  My children never really knew him as they were very small when he passed.

He retired from working for the State of New Hampshire and then went on to work for the Town of Hudson for another 10-15 years.  He loved to play golf and did the curling for a few years.  He really enjoyed the curling very much but he gave it up based the amount of partying that went  on during the bonspiels and the expense of the traveling to compete.  He did enjoy partying but at his own pace. 

He also loved photography.  He went to school to be a photographer but his career took another path.   Later when he was retired he became interested again and spent a lot of free time looking for the perfect shot. My parents travelled across the US camping in all the National Parks so he could try to capture just the right light of day by being close. 

He was loved by all.  I do not know many people that did not like my dad. He was friendly, had a great sense of humor, was the most unselfish person I know.  He adored my mom and all his family.

I am wondering if I can purchase 5 X 7.  I would like to get 6 prints to give one to each of my siblings and as well as to their children who were very close to him.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *