A light that shone ever brightly in Jasperites’ lives has been extinguished.
Norm Lamothe, friend to many in this community, passed suddenly and tragically at his family’s cabin on Lake Bednesti, outside of Prince George, B.C., on April 6. A loving father and a devoted husband, Lamothe was only 42 years old.
Although he no longer lived in Jasper, Lamothe called this community home for more than a dozen years. During that time, Lamothe made lasting friendships with his co-workers and fellow adventurers. His trustworthy, outgoing, high-energy personality drew people to him, his longtime friend remembered.
“Norm was one of those special people who are their true selves all the time. He never pretended to be someone he was not,” said Lee Labrecque, who grew up with Lamothe in Edmonton. “He was honest and genuine. He was someone it was easy to become friends with.”
Lamothe was easy to like. He loved to have fun. He had a powerful yet kind-hearted presence. He was a story teller. He was a hard worker.
And Lamothe was a charger. Whether on skis, a motorcycle, a mountain bike or a pair of hockey skates, he was a straight-liner.
“He was always the first one to try the jump, always the first to drop in on a gnarly line,” said Labrecque.
Lamothe brought that same plunge-in attitude to the relationships he formed. He brought people together, Labrecque said. His warm smile would light up a room. His laugh was legendary.
“He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was passionate about his work, his family and his friends.”
Lamothe’s first gig in Jasper was the same one that thousands of young adventure-seekers find when they first move to the mountains: ski resort liftie. He graduated to the tech shop at Marmot Basin and eventually started working with Parks Canada’s trail crew, where he further expanded his friend circle, but Lamothe was always a skier at heart.
When Jasper’s Chris Peel first met him, Lamothe was spending a lot of time with his snowboarder buddies on Marmot Basin’s lower mountain.
“I joked with him that there are two more chairlifts up top,” Peel remembers. Soon enough Lamothe and Peel—and an ever-growing circle of friends—were crewing together.
Life was a lot of fun back then. But tragedy struck the group in 2005 when Norm’s younger brother, Christopher, was killed in a skiing accident. Norm was devastated.
“The dynamic was never quite the same,” Labrecque remembered. “The hurt of losing Chris never fully went away.”
Love, however, found a way. Norm met Melissa Warren, an Ontario girl with whom he shared his passions. The two eventually married, settling down in Prince George and starting a family and a business, Bednesti Tree Services. A deadshot tree feller and an honest businessman, Lamothe built a reputation as a talented arborist. But his true love was for his family. A daughter, Olivia, was welcomed into their lives in 2012 and in 2015 Christopher was born. Lamothe was good at a lot of things, but as a father, he had found his calling.
“He was so happy being a dad,” Labrecque said. “He loved seeing Olivia ski from the top of Marmot.”
Family members are finding some solace in the thought that Lamothe is skiing from the top of a mountain somewhere, reunited with his brother while their dad, who also passed, looks on.
The memories of Norm Lamothe are strong—the man made an impact on almost everyone he met. But the hole that his too-early departure leaves in the hearts of his loved ones is as large as the life he led.
To help make a difference to Lamothe’s family during their time of grieving, find the Missy Lamothe and family fund on GoFundMe.com.
Bob Covey// bob@thejasperlocal.com
