LANTHIER, Jim - January 11, 1940 - June 23, 2021 - The day before Jim Lanthier died, a doctor asked him if there was anything more he needed.
Parkinson’s disease had robbed Jim of the easy eloquence he’d enjoyed for most of his 81 years and the physician had to strain to make out his whispered reply: “More poetry.”
For Jim’s beloved wife Cathy, who had taken their home apart searching for his favourite book of Philip Larkin poems and had been reading aloud beside his hospital bed from volumes of Jim’s own poetry, it was the perfect response.
Jim’s life had never lacked for poetry – and he always wanted more.
Jim (Jacques Paul) Lanthier was born in 1940 to Eleanor and Edwin (Ned) Lanthier. He was predeceased by his first wife, Jane McDougall Lanthier, and his younger sister Sheila Lanthier. He is survived by his children Kateri (Greg Sinclair), Jennifer (Stephen Rogers) and James (Kelci Gershon) and grandchildren Nicola, Trucy, Buzz, Nicholas, Julia, Lyla, Will and Sam – of whom he was very proud – as well as his brother Philip (Louise Setlakwe) of West Bolton, Quebec and sister Paddy of Montreal, along with nieces and nephews across Canada and around the world.
Lucky in love a second time, Jim leaves his devoted wife Cathy Lanthier, who married him in 2008 following his determined courtship, her children Michael (Michelle), Sarah and Nicholas and their children Zach, Kassie and Becca to whom he was “Grandpa Jim".
A formal gathering will need to wait until more people are fully vaccinated.
A memorial donation may be made either to Parkinson Canada or the Bruce Trail Conservancy. And if you would like to honour his memory in another way, please consider writing and sharing with your family and friends what Larkin called “a verbal device that would preserve an experience indefinitely by reproducing it in whoever read the poem.”
Or as Jim would say, “More poetry".
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