Friends celebrate life of their ‘Eagleman’

[kickingfrog]

I don't know if anyone here knows this guy, but he went to Sir Sandford Fleming and worked at a fly-in camp so he seemed like the type that would hang-out here.

 

http://www.simcoe.com/community/barrieinnisfil/article/929455

 

Friends celebrate life of their ‘Eagleman’

 

Young victim at home in the wild. Barrie’s Patrick Beatty died Tuesday after he was struck by a transport truck on Highway 400 near the St. Vincent Street Bridge.

 

BARRIE - A small group of people from a fishing camp in Red Lake, Ontario is mourning the loss of a young Barrie man alongside his family.

 

Patrick Beatty, 19, died in hospital a week ago after being hit by a transport truck on Highway 400 Jan. 6.

 

He was in his second year at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, taking the fish and wildlife program.

 

“Patrick came to our fly-in fishing camp last summer because I needed a young guy – someone with muscles,” said Enid Carlson, owner of Viking Island and Outposts.

 

From May until September, his job was maintaining the boats, motors and portages, mowing the lawns, painting cabins, chopping firewood, and every other task of a maintenance man, she said. “He was an absolute necessity around the island, as well as great fun to be around.”

 

Carlson said Patrick seemed older than his age, and was a hands-on learner.

 

“It’s very difficult to just get someone to live in the bush. Most young people would want to go to town and not hang out with the older people here. He was more than what we required,” she said. “My only problem with him was that he never took breaks.”

 

She knew Patrick was special when she saw him forming relationships with some of the older native people who live in the area. Ojibway is their first language, said Carlson. “They still live by their native culture, they have their own ways. You don’t just drop into an island and get along with them.”

 

But Patrick took the opportunity seriously and set out to learn about their culture and language. “He liked the way they live and let live. It suited his personality.”

 

He also made friends with Carlson’s 96-year-old mother, two-year-old granddaughter and the young pilots, mechanics and cooks who worked there.

 

But one native woman, Jean Keesic, got along with Patrick so well she “adopted” him, believing people can have multiple parents. She even had an official naming ceremony and had asked Patrick to do a series of tasks. One was to find an item that would be presented to him in nature.

 

“He had developed a relationship with the eagles,” said Carlson. “He fed them everyday, they recognized him and his boat.”

 

He returned with an eagle feather, and was named Migizi Nini, which means Eagleman. In native culture, the eagle helps heal and guide and the feather is called the talking feather. It is used in various ceremonies for physical as well as social healing.

 

“Jean went on to ask her band council if Patrick could live on the reserve for a while and go out onto the trapline this winter. This is a permission rarely granted in this part of the country,” said Carlson.

 

Instead, he returned home to continue his studies.

 

“He was here for just a summer, but he left more than a summer’s worth of impression,” said Carlson.

 

Patrick had plans to return again this summer, and she was stunned to hear the news of his death. “It’s a very hard thing to understand. Sometimes people who are very empathetic feel other people’s pain, and as a result, they have more struggles in their own life,” said Carlson.

 

Patrick’s mother, Yvonne Hargreaves-Beatty takes comfort that he’s with God now. “He was a beautiful person, a wonderful young man,” said mother Yvonne Hargreaves-Beatty. “He gave himself to everyone.”

 

Police said a transport truck hit Patrick on Jan. 6 near the St. Vincent Street Bridge. He had brain damage and spent several days fighting for his life.

 

“We’re devastated, he’s my baby, my only son. We’re torn in a million pieces. But Patrick is living on with four people; he donated his organs to save others.”

 

As a kid, he’d give his time at senior’s homes, said Hargreaves-Beatty. “He was always giving.”

 

He is the youngest in the family, with three older sisters. He was also a Sir Sandford Fleming College student, working towards a career outdoors. “He loved all of God’s creatures. He was all about protecting our land, protecting our water. He was right in there with the Site 41 thing.”

 

A funeral service was held Monday at St. Mary’s Church at 10 a.m.

 

Donations are to the Brain Injury Association of Canada and the Terry Fox Foundation.

 

“Patrick participated for 19 years. The first year I took him in a stroller, then the next year in a baby seat on the bike, and I did it until he started doing it on his own,” said Hargreaves-Beatty. “He should be commended for that.”

[Big Cliff]

God must have needed a very special young man to have taken him so early in his life. Everytime I see an eagle fly I will remember this post. Thanks for sharing it!

 

Just a thought but: The very first wood carving our friend Nanook ever gave us was one of an eagle feather. Could it be that Eagleman and Nanook are both together for a reason? I would like to think so!

[mercman]

such a sad story my sympathies to friends and familly.