{"id":3848,"date":"2023-10-01T23:25:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T21:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/piaget.org\/?page_id=3848"},"modified":"2024-01-06T18:49:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T17:49:29","slug":"passing-of-chris-lalonde-may-8-2023","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/piaget.org\/passing-of-chris-lalonde-may-8-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Passing of Chris Lalonde – May 8, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#9b1a15″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title meta=”off” image_height=”1000px” image_max_height=”1000px” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”||||||||” title_text_color=”#ffffff” title_font_size=”39px” background_color=”#9b1a15″ background_image=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/scan0027-1.jpeg” background_size=”custom” background_image_width=”100%” height=”475px” title_text_shadow_style=”preset1″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_blurb title=”Memory from Elizabeth Pufall Jones” image=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/IMG_0641-1.jpeg” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n<p><span>I can’t remember a JPS meeting without Chris.\u00a0 JPS, nor I, would be where we are today without him.\u00a0 Chris is the one who brought JPS online in 1999, and until the summer of 2022, when he stepped down from the executive board, he was instrumental in maintaining JPS’ presence online and in the world.\u00a0 If you received an email, it was sent by Chris.\u00a0 If you needed to change the day and time of your presentation, Chris did it. Submitting your proposal, that was also to Chris.\u00a0 Organizing the reviewers for the refereed program, Chris again.\u00a0 But he never wanted the spotlight, nor would he ever accept it.\u00a0 He was always doing for the good of others, the good of the community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I received Chris’ counsel on a great many things in my life, including asking him what he thought of my boyfriend who would eventually become my husband – “he is too nice for you,” said with snark. When Chris was the outside reader for my dissertation, he got on the polycom in his PJs one early Victoria morning to attend my defense. Everyone who was physically in the room gave me glowing reports, then Chris spoke up to clarify one of my analyses – I had the right answer but had approached it the wrong way. Noticing the error he counseled me to correct the analysis. He never embarassed me about it, he said to me that year, “I knew you did good work, I just wanted to make sure everyone else knew it too.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When I was applying for my current position, Chris was one of my references. When I got to the JPS meeting in 2022 and told him I got the job, he was elated, and began telling everyone like a proud big brother. He really has been a great chosen big brother for me personally and professionally. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I did not want to put his obituary online because I don’t want to believe he is gone.\u00a0 Thank you Chris for everything, for all of your snarky remarks, for all of your love and support. I am a better person, we are a better JPS, because of you.\u00a0 Thank you Laurie and family for sharing him with us all these years.\u00a0 I hope we don’t mess it up now that Chris is gone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb image=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/IMG_1781-1.jpeg” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb image=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Clan-Lalonde-04.jpeg” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb image=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/IMG_0996-1.jpeg” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/piaget.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/IMG_1359-1.jpeg” title_text=”IMG_1359 (1)” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” min_height=”347px” height=”352px” max_height=”100px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”22px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Christopher Edward Lalonde \u2013 also known as \u201cChris the Pro\u201d, \u201cMondo\u201d, \u201cDad\u201d, \u201cThe Funkle\u201d, and most recently \u201cP\u00e9p\u00e8re\u201d \u2013 was born on Sept. 7, 1959 in St. Catharines, Ontario. He died on Monday, May 8, 2023 in Victoria, British Columbia, of complications of liver disease, at age 63.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lalonde was an internationally recognized scientist based in the psychology department at the University of Victoria, whose research focused on the role of culture in reducing suicide risk among Indigenous youth. Dr. Lalonde\u2019s innovative research focussed on how and why some First Nations communities had no suicides in decades, while others had disturbingly high rates. The key, his research posited, was Indigenous communities having control over their political and cultural lives.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Lalonde was the lead investigator in developing and evaluating the LE,NO\u1e48ET project at UVic, the goal of which is to create a welcoming environment at the university for Indigenous students. The project, Dr. Lalonde\u2019s research showed, improved graduation rates among Indigenous students. He secured millions of dollars in research funding for UVic to study this important topic, was invited to present his results widely and promoted the adoption of such projects at other Canadian post-secondary institutions. He earned many accolades and awards throughout his academic career, including most recently, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Victoria and the 2023 Exceptional Service Award from the Jean Piaget Society. Dr. Lalonde published 34 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 18 book chapters and monographs, and 20 reports. He also co-edited a book on Indigenous health and wellness.<\/p>\n<p>But that was just Dr. Lalonde.<\/p>\n<p>Chris \u201cThe Pro\u201d began life in a bungalow in the south end of St. Catharines, Ontario. He had one glorious year of being an only child, with a single curly lock of hair so adorable that his baby picture was featured on the front page of the local newspaper. He was doted on and celebrated. But those halcyon days were short lived, as his mother gave birth to four more children in rapid succession. Chris soon learned that misbehaving was one way to get the parental attention to which he had become accustomed, and misbehave he did.<\/p>\n<p>He would feed his siblings sand, tease them relentlessly, lock them in closets, and knock their tennis balls over the garage roof. He bought his first pack of cigarettes with his First Communion money, and smoked them behind the rabbit cage in the backyard. He beat all of his siblings at everything, and liked to hold his hands clasped over his head to celebrate, like a professional fighter (hence, The Pro).<\/p>\n<p>As a teenager in the 70s, Chris became known as \u201cMondo\u201d. He was the coolest hippy around, with his gorgeous Peter Frampton curls, hip-hugging wide-legged jeans and platform shoes, and a cigarette forever dangling on his lip. While perfecting his smoke rings, he stapled his empty red Du Maurier cigarette packs to the ceiling of his basement bedroom, like wallpaper. He blasted Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Kate Bush at painful decibel levels and served his friends beer in a teapot.<\/p>\n<p>Parties at Chris\u2019s first apartment on One Welland Avenue feature prominently in the memories of his siblings and their friends. Between those parties, bonfires down at the rapids and his very cool job at a local sub shop called Toad Hall, Mondo was barely scraping by in high school, to his mother\u2019s chagrin. \u201cYou\u2019re the smartest one of the bunch,\u201d she would lament, to the consternation of his siblings, all straight-A students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But all that changed after Chris headed west to Vancouver, where he fell in love with developmental psychology and also with the beautiful red-headed woman who would become his wife. It is not clear if it was the former or the latter that smartened Chris up, but whenever he returned home after that, he was kind to his siblings, who didn\u2019t know what to make of the new, nice Chris. Bad Chris never returned.<\/p>\n<p>Chris and Laurie were married in 1985. By 1992, they had three children and over the next busy decade Chris worked toward his psychology degree and then his PhD at the University of British Columbia, as Laurie somehow managed the home front and earned her own degree in criminology. Chris became Dr. Lalonde in 1997, to his mother\u2019s great delight, and began his teaching and research career at the University of Victoria.<\/p>\n<p>But it was as a father and family man that Chris really came into his own.<\/p>\n<p>Chris and Laurie were each other\u2019s true love, and the parents everyone wanted to emulate. They had the kind of relationship that seemed to grow stronger in tough times. Chris put a chocolate on his Laurie\u2019s pillow every night before they went to bed.<\/p>\n<p>Chris always had a way with kids. He could coax a toddler out of a tantrum in seconds or get a grumpy preteen laughing. He was the king of nicknames. \u201cI can\u2019t remember him ever calling me by my actual name,\u201d says daughter Lise, aka Bubba. He was a master bedtime story teller, with a knack for switching from captivating to boring at the precise moment when it became possible for the child to drift off to sleep.<\/p>\n<p>Chris\u2019s nieces and nephews gave him the coveted title of \u201cThe Funcle\u201d \u2013 a combination of \u201cfun\u201d and \u201cuncle\u201d \u2013 despite stiff competition from his brothers and brothers-in-law. He liked to surprise the gang by showing up unexpectedly at the Kehoe family cottage in Quinnville, Qc. He did it every summer for so many years that the \u201csurprise\u201d became a running joke. He initiated many family traditions, such as the \u201cBurning of the Silly Hats\u201d at the end of the cottage vacation and he was a respected judge of the cupcake-decorating contest. He pushed for a Lalonde family reunion last summer in Penetang, and despite his failing health, managed to get on stage and bring the house down with his Father Guido Sarducci routine. He was the host and trivia quiz master on our weekly family Zooms, which he set up at the start of the pandemic; a tradition that continued until the Wednesday before he died.<\/p>\n<p>Chris had many passions. He loved playing pool at the UVic faculty club, watching Jeopardy and sports events on TV, especially the Toronto Blue Jays and the Vancouver Canucks. He loved gibberish words, and would yell \u201czink, zank, zoinkage!\u201d at the television after a good goal and quote Jabberwocky each year in birthday wishes to his son Riley, aka his Barlish Boy. He could quote extensively from Monty Python movies and The Big Lebowski. He loved card games and taught us all tips for Euchre that could apply to life if you think about them hard enough: \u201cDon\u2019t send a boy to do a man\u2019s job\u201d, \u201cTurn down a bower, lose for an hour\u201d, and \u201cEventually, some asshole always makes it clubs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He loved technology, and was generous with his time and expertise in both his professional and personal circles. He loved talking (and talking and talking) about vaping, because it helped him quit smoking. Any time he did some minor task around the house (changing a light bulb, emptying the dishwasher, etc.) he would say, \u201cPut it in the Big Book of Home Handyman Triumphs.\u201d He regaled his mother\u2019s side of the family with tales of his oft-failed \u201chome handyman triumphs\u201d in the annual family newsletter.<\/p>\n<p>Chris was not a foodie, by any stretch. When left to his own devices, he would happily live on grilled-cheese sandwiches, barbecued peanuts and beer. He was not a cook, but would clean up after meals, although you had to guard your plate to keep him from snatching it before you were done.<\/p>\n<p>Chris was not kind to his body. He ate poorly (see above), smoked for decades, drank too much and aside from a few years in a friendly softball league in Vancouver, eschewed all exercise, including walking, or \u201ctrudging\u201d as he called it. He was, however, exceedingly kind to other people\u2026his students, his colleagues, his friends and his extended family. He and Laurie offered a bed to any relative who needed it, and for as long as they needed it.<\/p>\n<p>The great tragedy in Chris\u2019s life was the death by suicide of his eldest son, Peter, in December of 2014. Chris didn\u2019t speak often of his grief, though when he did, it was usually to help others try to make sense of suicide or cope with their own grief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know (the triggers for grief) will diminish with time, with the help of my better memories of Pete and his life, and with support from friends and family,\u201d he wrote in an article for a mental health website. \u201cBut for now, they are many, and they might surface at any time. I acknowledge them, but I continue to invite in so many better memories of Pete to balance them out. There will be better, easier days, I tell myself\u2014just not today, not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Music was a great solace to Chris, and he would share a playlist of what he called his \u201ccryin\u2019 songs\u201d with grieving friends and relatives. The list included Willie Nelson\u2019s \u201cSomething You Get Through\u201d, Loudon Wainwright III\u2019s \u201cMissing You\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m Not Gonna Cry\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But it was John Prine who provided the soundtrack to Chris\u2019s life: Prine\u2019s happy songs, funny songs and sad songs were on heavy rotation in his household, all day, every day.<\/p>\n<p>Chris inherited his father\u2019s melodious singing voice (though thankfully, not Jerome\u2019s sense of rhythm), and grew up singing \u201cSam Stone\u201d and \u201cAngel from Montgomery\u201d and all the Prine favourites around Georgian Bay campfires. He and Laurie could sing a rendition of In Spite of Ourselves that would make us all feel like we\u2019d ended up sittin\u2019 on a rainbow, in spite of ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a good one to end on. It\u2019s not hard to imagine our Chris \u2013 aka The Pro, Mondo, Good Chris, Dad, The Funcle, Dr. Lalonde, P\u00e9p\u00e8re \u2013 singing this with gusto:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhen I get to heaven, I\u2019m gonna shake God\u2019s hand. Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand. Then I\u2019m gonna get a guitar and start a rock n roll band. Check into a swell hotel. Ain\u2019t the afterlife grand? And then I\u2019m gonna get a cocktail; vodka and ginger ale. Yeah, I\u2019m gonna smoke a cigarette that\u2019s nine miles long. I\u2019m gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl, \u2019cause this old man is goin\u2019 to town.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Chris is survived by his wife Laurie Chesworth, his son Riley and his wife Kelsey, grandson Lukas, and daughter Lise and her fianc\u00e9 Jordan Bell. Chris was predeceased by his first-born son Peter, and his parents Jerome and Theresa Lalonde. He leaves in mourning his siblings: Ken, Lisa, Michelle and Doug Lalonde; in-laws Michelle and John Woulfe, Andr\u00e9 Picard, Tasha Menary, Peter and Anne Chesworth, Linda and Jim Nolan; and his nieces and nephews Kelsey, Patrick, Zo\u00e9, Molly, Michael, Kieran, Emmet, Natalie, Ana\u00efs, Rapha\u00eblle, and Maeve, as well as many beloved aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_3848\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only \" data-element-id=\"3848\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 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