Merv Matson

What is a life well lived? Hard to define, but we know what one looks like.

It’s mostly about memories and this picture prompts a lot of them. We’re at

Ione Falls on Sandra’s great 10-day bike tour, Kootenay Kruise 2011. Andre,

always reliably cheerful, is on the right, sharing a rest stop with good friends.

The KK is one of many bike and hike experiences with Andre to treasure,

including Berg Lake and the Icefields Parkway.

In the height of the Rockies, I remember camping with Andre and friends by

Berg Lake, lying in tents on a quiet night, listening to the crack and splash of

Robson Glacier calving icebergs across the Lake, and much closer, listening

for the approach of the resident porcupine with a taste for rubber in case we

needed to defend our footwear. On the Berg Lake Trail, we had the thrill and

chill of getting close up to mighty Emperor Falls; and on the edge of camp,

water-sculpted Toboggan Falls. Out of camp, on the way to one of Andre’s

favourite places in the Rockies, Snowbird Pass, we passed through what

Andre aptly named “Marmot Village”. (We all know Andre loves dogs, but

marmots, really?) Those friendly, curious, relatively large ground squirrels,

are now amongst the most skillfully photographed critters in a home rock

pile.

Andre has cycled Jasper to Banff on the Icefields Parkway many times, and I

went with him a few of those times. One memorable time on an EVCC

(Elbow Valley Cycle Club) trip with Andre, we ran into terrible weather near

the Discovery Centre. It was your classic wet, cold, horizontal, late summer

snowstorm. With wet road grit thrown up against wheel rims, the steep

descent was risky and brutal on brake pads, that is for those of us who used

brakes. Andre and Sandra were in high gear pedaling all the way around the

keyhole to keep up with the four-wheel traffic – crazy need for speed!

So that’s a bit about Andre the great hike-bike companion. But consider that

he is also a professional “techie” in the best sense of the word. He is very

knowledgeable and generous about two technologies in particular: IT

(Information Technology) and photography, both vocations and careers.

He is a diligent techie, building a sustainable IT business while keeping his

client’s information efficient and safe. He is able to reach beyond the core

technology operational issues and hardware-software processes (hard to do

considering the huge and ever-changing scope), and connect to business

goals and operations. He helped me with advice and client trust to make a

practical difference in my business. Thanks Andre!

Then there is photography. Andre was helping so many of us with our

photography that he generously decided to form and lead a club, Light

Stalkers, aiming to improve everyone with group assignments, discussion,

field trips and studio sessions – all free. He led us to study subtle colour,

lighting and contrast ideas, and it was on colour and lighting that I think he

really excelled. Always the entrepreneur, he developed a nice business

focussed on photography services to the local live theatre community. Thanks

Andre!

I think Andre is a natural fit to the Epicurean philosophy of life. Epicurus

taught that a life well lived has a goal of happiness gained from living a self-

sufficient, full life, surrounded and interacting intellectually and ethically

with close friends. (Dogs were not mentioned.)

Merv Matson