A slice of tree trunk, pierced with the design of a leafy tree, adorns the living room of Elyse Laporte and André Cormier. They carved this work in the maple that killed their daughter Laurie-Ève 10 years ago. It is their “precious wood”.
The sun crosses this sculpture to recall the luminous presence of their child, who lost his life in a violent windstorm in Boucherville in July 2013.
That day, Laurie-Ève was working as a lifeguard in a municipal swimming pool when she perished, crushed by a heavy tree branch. She had just sheltered a group of young bathers from the wind.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FAMILY
Laurie-Ève Cormier died in 2013, in Boucherville.
“She went back outside the locker room to pick up a wife and a last child. That’s when the branch fell on her. The firefighters found the child, seriously injured but alive, under his body, ”says his mother.
Her death sent shock waves from Boucherville to Australia, where she had obtained her certification as an ocean lifeguard at the age of 17. From around the world, from Rescue Australia to the World Scout Organization, messages of sympathy poured in. All those who had crossed paths with the young woman, at school and abroad, hailed her ardor and her unifying power.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Elyse Laporte and André Cormier in the workshop where André works their “precious wood”.
Laurie-Ève was one of those people who have a sparkling soul. She was a ball of energy, who lived for the present and rarely for the future.
Elyse Laporte, mother of Laurie-Eve Cormier
Her mother has long sought unsuccessfully to harness her daughter’s ardor.
“Today, I’m glad she stood up to me. She traveled, she lived as she wanted. I’m happy about it,” she says.
Healing through art
Despite all the benevolent gestures and testimonies, mourning nevertheless remains a difficult ordeal to go through, recognizes the couple. Sorrow and rage gnawed at her daily life for years.
“There was no culprit to vent his anger on. There is nothing more intangible than the wind! “, underlines M.me Laporte, a retired preschool teacher who eventually found solace in art therapy. Her appeasement convinced her spouse to explore this cathartic path in turn.
“I’ve always liked working with wood, but it was more for carpentry. I signed up for a sculpture course, just to try, says André Cormier. I liked it so much that it became my therapy. »
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PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Working with the maple wood that interrupted their daughter’s life allows the couple to find a form of peace.
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PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
André made this table and some sculptures from precious wood.
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PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The work of Bernard Séguin-Poirier which contains the ashes of the deceased young lifeguard.
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It was then that the stars aligned, continues Mme The door. “When we learned that the big silver maple that killed Laurie-Ève had to be cut down, we asked the City for permission to recover all the wood. We cut it into logs and planks to bring it home. »
I bring life back to a dead wood that has given death. I take an ugly part of this tree and bring out its beauty.
Andre Cormier
All this “precious wood”, as the couple calls it, is carefully preserved in the workshop. André Cormier draws from it the material necessary to create works, but also useful everyday objects such as a sideboard, bowls or even coat racks. Simply to remind you of Laurie-Ève’s presence in everyday life.
raw beauty
Like his daughter, André Cormier’s works preserve the perfect imperfections of wood. Part of the knots, disease spots and wounds in its bark are retained to respect the tree’s past.
“Life is still in the wood,” said his wife, stroking a small varnished bowl, adorned with marks left by insects.
“I let the wood express itself”, says the sculptor and former educator with simplicity. “I have an idea of what I want to do, but I’ll let the wood tell me what it wants to be. And at the same time, it reminds me of the nature of Laurie-Ève. It got me out of it. »
These works of precious wood are offered sparingly to significant people around them. “People are shaken every time. But I take care to explain to them that, to keep Laurie-Ève alive, my way is to talk about it openly. We never wanted his death to be a taboo subject, ”underlines the father, his eyes a little red.
Little by little, the precious wood of Laurie-Ève’s parents travels and finds its place. A piece sculpted by his father will thus be integrated into an upcoming work by ceramic artist Ève-Marie Laliberté, a cousin of his mother. The creation will be exhibited in the summer at the Haut-Richelieu Museum, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FAMILY
A slice of the tree trunk, adorned with the photo of Laurie-Ève Cormier, hangs at the entrance to the Boucherville aquatic complex, which bears the name of the lifeguard.
Another slice of the tree trunk, which frames the photo of the lifeguard, hangs at the entrance to the new aquatic complex in Boucherville, called Laurie-Ève Cormier.
Over time, mother and father made peace with Aeolus, who now symbolizes their daughter’s passionate temper. “When a gust of wind opens the door, we exclaim: ‘There you are at last! Where have you been?” “, they say, laughing.