Red Sea

Mrs. Annette Loykowski worked in our textbook rental here at school. I met her very early on in my sojourn at St Francis, taking my classes down to pick up their text books for the year. She was very stern with the students, telling them to make sure their names went in the books and don't lose them; they're $80 each! As soon as the students were on the way back up she left her gruff exterior and started chatting with me. Sh loved my accent and wanted to bring in a Harry Potter book for me to read from. We were laughing and joking in no time at all, this woman I had just met. She was very open and welcoming with this new boy and really helped me settle in.

She had a picture of a young man in uniform on her desk. I asked if it was her son. It was, she said, and he is in Kandahar, Southern Afghanistan at the moment. Not an easy place to be for a son or a parent; every week it seems we hear of Canadian boys making the long trip home in a coffin. As stressful as it must have been for her, she had nothing but pride for the handsome man in the picture and was glad he was doing his bit. She told me about the new tradition of wearing red on Fridays to show support for the troops serving abroad. Not as a support of the war or a blessing on the politics and politicians involved, but an acknowledgement that these young men are over their on our behalf and deserve this small show of public support.

Annette always wore red on Fridays, and some of the rest of us here did too.

Annette died last Friday night, very suddenly from a massive heart attack. Most likely the stress of dealing with her son being in Combat was a factor, but we'll never know.
The school grieves for a lost colleague. Annette was a good friend to many and had been here eight years. I can only imagine the impact she must have had, but in the small glimpse I had of her I can see why she will be missed.

The school has been asked to wear red today, as a sign of respect and support and it is pleasing to see so many of our students have done so. I think Annette would have been proud to be part of so caring a community, and not at all surprised.

Farewell, Annette.