“The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man, it is to know that and to wonder at it.” – Jacques-Yves CousteauE]
17 January 1949 born in Lewiston, ME
22 May 2018 Ronald R Ouellette died peacefully in his sleep (heart trouble at altitude) in CO
I learned of his death 31 May 2018 on Facebook from a post by Marlene Sassamen
http://obituaries.pressherald.com/obituaries/mainetoday-pressherald/obituary.aspx?n=ronald-robert-ouellette&pid=189180000
Prologue: Marlene's FB post @ WTF https://sasseasails.com/2018/05/31/wtf/
I felt the whole world tilt as to be off-kitler forever.
Ron has been my touchstone for nearly 40 yrs. (from the age of 17 until almost 56).
Classroom lights brighter, school yard dogwood flower's eyes staring at me, particles of dust in the air making me feel connected to everything and nothing. Wanting to go to the sea, but knowing he's gone, from the mountains into an energy source beyond our ability to see.
I called Marlene. She had just finished his obituary and pushed send when I rang. She said the last sentence was the hardest to write because it made it real and final. I told her I was still in shock, as I'd only just learned (an hour earlier, but wanted to wait until a reasonable hour Mt Time, even though I knew she was an early bird). We both cried. Then we remembered him and compared notes and filled in a few holes.
What surprised me, and didn't, was her use of the word "suicide." When I asked if he had a heart condition and she immediately said yes, I felt that it was the altitude that killed him. It isn't kind to older sea-level souls. It had nearly killed my stepmother three times forcing her to leave New Mexico and return to Maine. Ironically, Ron's last career as an ICU Cardiac Care Nurse, did not mean that he followed the healthy heart protocol, according to Marlene. Which lead us to the discussion of suicide. She said, and I agree, that there are different ways to commit suicide. Most people think of the violent successes or the repeated cries for help. But there are also those who willfully do it over a great period of time and on their own terms. That is the kind Ron did. Being a Cardiac Care Nurse he knew the required surgical procedure would be, the risks, the rehab and the limited reward.
I don't know how long he had the heart condition or how serious it was or how it was/wasn't being treated. I do know that he used to swim, bike, run and hike. That they had hiked together a great deal over the last 5 years in various national parks. It was the joy of those hikes and trips that lead them to the Rockies and away from the Gulf of Mexico.
Yet I did notice, that since landing in CO, Marlene mostly posted pix of solo hikes or hikes with new girlfriends. Ron wasn't hiking or skiing with her. That was the first tell. He loved to be outdoors and active. However the last picture she sent to me of him, was of him staining clapboards for a newly built shed ~ perhaps that is where he was putting his energies. One last creation.That is what he thrived on: creating and building.
Now I have to create and build this book to honor him, share with my children & students, and make sense of how much of him still lives through me now.
"Changes is Lattitude, Changes in Attitude" should not apply to Altitude.
I learned of his death 31 May 2018 on Facebook from a post by Marlene Sassamen
http://obituaries.pressherald.com/obituaries/mainetoday-pressherald/obituary.aspx?n=ronald-robert-ouellette&pid=189180000
Prologue: Marlene's FB post @ WTF https://sasseasails.com/2018/05/31/wtf/
I felt the whole world tilt as to be off-kitler forever.
Ron has been my touchstone for nearly 40 yrs. (from the age of 17 until almost 56).
Classroom lights brighter, school yard dogwood flower's eyes staring at me, particles of dust in the air making me feel connected to everything and nothing. Wanting to go to the sea, but knowing he's gone, from the mountains into an energy source beyond our ability to see.
I called Marlene. She had just finished his obituary and pushed send when I rang. She said the last sentence was the hardest to write because it made it real and final. I told her I was still in shock, as I'd only just learned (an hour earlier, but wanted to wait until a reasonable hour Mt Time, even though I knew she was an early bird). We both cried. Then we remembered him and compared notes and filled in a few holes.
What surprised me, and didn't, was her use of the word "suicide." When I asked if he had a heart condition and she immediately said yes, I felt that it was the altitude that killed him. It isn't kind to older sea-level souls. It had nearly killed my stepmother three times forcing her to leave New Mexico and return to Maine. Ironically, Ron's last career as an ICU Cardiac Care Nurse, did not mean that he followed the healthy heart protocol, according to Marlene. Which lead us to the discussion of suicide. She said, and I agree, that there are different ways to commit suicide. Most people think of the violent successes or the repeated cries for help. But there are also those who willfully do it over a great period of time and on their own terms. That is the kind Ron did. Being a Cardiac Care Nurse he knew the required surgical procedure would be, the risks, the rehab and the limited reward.
I don't know how long he had the heart condition or how serious it was or how it was/wasn't being treated. I do know that he used to swim, bike, run and hike. That they had hiked together a great deal over the last 5 years in various national parks. It was the joy of those hikes and trips that lead them to the Rockies and away from the Gulf of Mexico.
Yet I did notice, that since landing in CO, Marlene mostly posted pix of solo hikes or hikes with new girlfriends. Ron wasn't hiking or skiing with her. That was the first tell. He loved to be outdoors and active. However the last picture she sent to me of him, was of him staining clapboards for a newly built shed ~ perhaps that is where he was putting his energies. One last creation.That is what he thrived on: creating and building.
Now I have to create and build this book to honor him, share with my children & students, and make sense of how much of him still lives through me now.
"Changes is Lattitude, Changes in Attitude" should not apply to Altitude.
Does Jimmy Buffet write mountain songs?
Pinion from 1980-1982
Spring 80: Traveled to the South w/Nancy. Get into Eisenhower ( absorbed in RIT) and decide to defer and move in with C,J,T after graduation.
June: I graduate and move to Maine three days later, so quickly that I was at Jennie's Graduation later that month. Drove home, high, with Tony and Chuck down the island road with no lights on, but a very full moon. (6/28/80 Saturday fullmoon?). Going through Yellow Pages for all cabinetmakers within a 25 mile radius (pre-Google). The person who answered the phone (pre-answer machines) and was interested in meeting me for an interview for a possible apprenticeship was Bruce Marcus (a former NY bookstore owner and now hand-tools only woodworking shop owner). We used to make fun of Thomas Moser for not allowing his woodworkers to work on the floor. 1854 Alna Road, Alna, ME 30 miles drive 4-seasons.
July 4th: Go up to Cooks Corner to dance at the Holiday Inn. Zee, Maggie, Jennie, Chuck, Ron and I are there. Ron and I drives me home to the island. In 11 days, I turn 18 and we start going back to his boat.We sail on the weekends all summer. Hit a rock and pull out at Sebasco Estates.
Fall: we spend time on boat and barter a big wheel (from a tug?) from Bud Darling in the harbor.
Fall scenes of boats slowing leaving the moorings, birds and leaves changing and finally pulling up our mooring and moving over to a dock tied up to land. Driving up to Alna, the change of light, viewing the various tides in the marshes, rivers and coves. First snow fall and dodging lumber trucks in my tiny '78 Honda Civic Hatchback. My father bought it for me my Senior year and said I could have it painted any color I wanted. I chose drum set blue; middle range deep blue with metallic flecks in it. He also installed a Bluapunkt radio cassette player in the glove box. It felt very swank!
Winter: move over to Oakhurst Is. I visit so often, Jennie jokes that I live there.
Jennie /Texas? Was that 81? Coming home to Northern Lights and soapstones.
Frostfishing with Jennie and Mark. Skating on the pond. Swimming at the Bath YMCA
Movies at the Tontine Mall: Manhattan (not realizing the irony).
Spring:
When did we bring all of Beth and Kim's house supplies out to long Island and have the clambake in the hood of a car after we lugged it across and up? Think it was spring and took a full day from shore to shore.
Summer:
Decide to not go to college, but rather sail away with Ron into the Sunset. Ron attaches an Antique Bureau to the bulkhead opposite the bathtub for me and my one duffle bag full of clothes when I move in. Dinner at the Baker's Table with Dad about this decision. "Rather be successful with my failures than to regret no having attempted them".
Can't remember when the haulout at Robinhood was. It must have been late spring 81, because I remember fiddlehead ferns for dinner and swimming in the quarry down the road. Also lots of boats were still in the yard and not in the harbor.
Friendship haul out? Sebasco Estates haul out?
Hit rock in the center of Casco Bay and what was the other debacle? Was it the engine in Friendship?
Fall 81:
Harpswell, ME, Gloucester, MA Montauk, NY, New Haven, CT, Oyster Bay, NY, Sandy Hook Bay, NJ, Willoughby Bay, VA Intracoastal Waterway, Beaufort NC, Buck Island, Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix USVI
Only other time we ran aground was in the Intracoastal Waterway, hit a sand bar where the channel shifted and had to hauls ourselves off with the main halyard and a the row boat?
I shot Ron's father's pilot's pistol there. I believe I did, as Ron wanted me to know how to fire it.
wCelestial navigation, sextant, with South Africans in the upstairs of a waterfront Bar in Beaufort, NC.
Didn't want to stay for Halloween Party. Left to make our Easting for the USVI and ran into these.
| Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS) | |
  | |
| Duration | November 3 – November 8 |
|---|---|
| Peak intensity | 85 mph (140 km/h) (1-min) 980 mbar (hPa) |
A tropical depression formed on November 3 in the western Caribbean Sea about 150 miles (240 km) south of the Cayman Islands. The depression moved north, reaching tropical storm strength as it moved through the Caymans. Katrina continued to strengthen, reaching hurricane strength half a day before landfall in Cuba. A weakening Katrina moved across eastern Cuba on November 6. After emerging over water, the storm accelerated northeast through the Bahamas. Katrina's circulation fell apart, and the storm merged with a front on November 8.
Hurricane Katrina is reported to have killed two and caused widespread flood damage in Cuba's Camagüey province.[1]
Subtropical Storm Three[edit]
| Subtropical storm (SSHWS) | |
  | |
| Duration | November 12 – November 17 |
|---|---|
| Peak intensity | 70 mph (110 km/h) (1-min) 978 mbar (hPa) |
A frontal low over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream organized into a subtropical storm on November 12 while 400 miles (640 km) east of Jacksonville, Florida. After moving northeastward, it turned to the northwest, threatening the northeastern United States as an intensifying subtropical storm that was gradually developing tropical characteristics. A high-pressure system turned it to the northeast, and after peaking at 70 mph (110 km/h) it became extratropical near Nova Scotia on November 17. The storm produced significant beach erosion and coastal flooding.[22]
I fell in love with the people and environment of Beaufort, NC. Everything was set up for sailors. An old truck that folks could borrow to drive to the Piggly Wiggly. Spanish Moss, tidal rivers, low french style houses, friendly folks, the South Africans on their homemade steel boat, who later taught us all who didn't have Lorans how to use a sextant and navigate by the stars in a upstairs dining room in a waterfront restaurant. We had homework and times where we had to do sightings and such.
Mad Hatter was a bar roughly a block away from the waterfront. Once they had an all you can shuck, you can eat oyster night which was wildly popular. The interior of the bar had the traditional sailor fair of dark boards, beer soaked floorboards, a U-shaped bar up against a wall, from behind which the bartender would change hats and accents every so half hour or so (just to keep the international sailing crowd engaged and buying drinks.
The oysters were fresh and delicious. I remember being there late with the South Africans and sitting on 10 gallon buckets in the patio/alley out back and shucking, eating and talking for hours one night. The SA men were tanned, with crisp smiled lines, Afrikaner accents and clothes that seemed worldly to a teenage girl from New England. They wore tailored cotton, in various earth tones and slicked back their hair. No preppy Izod or LL Bean or thrift shop fashions for them.
They knocked on our hull (the international live-aboard greeting) the first night we were in Beaufort. We, Ron and I, as Earl and Jake were ashore with the dingy (giving us some "alone" time) came up the companionway to greet them.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50hlf0 The Greatest American Hero in St. Croix
Work out of Christiansted:
Lisa's Sandal Shop/
Aubrey's Woodworking Shop/
Bret Gilliam Salvage Diving/
Booze Cruises
Summer 1982:
Return to Maine ~ turn 20 ~ enroll in Pre-Nursing Program
Summers with Ron visiting in Maine:
1985-2017
Spring with Ron visiting in New York:
1988
July 2012: My 50th birthday - Ron rode his bike from Chiquita to Chucks and then came in a car to Dingley. Need to find out where Chiquita was anchored. Near Peter LeBourdais?
July 2012: My 50th birthday - Ron rode his bike from Chiquita to Chucks and then came in a car to Dingley. Need to find out where Chiquita was anchored. Near Peter LeBourdais?
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