{"id":12571,"date":"2021-08-03T10:41:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T14:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.makivik.org\/?post_type=taqralikonline&p=12571"},"modified":"2021-08-03T10:41:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T14:41:21","slug":"ode-to-bob-mesher","status":"publish","type":"taqralikonline","link":"https:\/\/www.makivvik.ca\/fr\/article\/ode-to-bob-mesher\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode to BOB MESHER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Stephen Hendrie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 4:10 pm on Tuesday, May 11, I received a text from Taqralik Partridge letting me know Bob Mesher had died the previous day. She apologized for texting the news so bluntly. It was a total shock. He was a very special person, sensitive, with incredible talent. She texted, \u201caalummi,\u201d a term of endearment said to loved ones, as a way to console, to express kind sadness.

Later that evening Lisa Watt sent messages on LinkedIn, expressing grief at Bob\u2019s passing, noting she was glad she went to visit him a few summers ago in Goose Bay. Lorraine Brooke sent an email commiserating about the tragedy. And that\u2019s how it is in the North. News spreads quickly. Bob worked at this magazine for over 20 years.

He was first hired at Makivvik in 1993 as an Associate Editor of Makivvik News. In 1995 Bob was promoted to the position of Editor, and also produced Makivvik\u2019s Annual Report and calendars until he left Makivvik in 2017.

Bob published over 80 editions of the magazine during that time. The job was very much a labour of love. He would talk about what it was like to write articles for the magazine. \u201cI\u2019ve got the story in my head, I just have to transfer it to the computer,\u201d he would joke.

As editor, he would write many of the articles, commission texts from freelancers, take most of the photos, and source others, track down countless facts, names, places, and dates. In the early years he would do the layout on Apple desktop computers, sending English texts to translators via dial-up modem for translation. He put in endless hours beyond the call of duty.

Bob was from a large family, one of 11 brothers and three sisters. The listing on the Fillatre\u2019s Funeral Home\u2019s website in Goose Bay noted that he will be sadly missed by family and friends, which include his son; Robert (Rocky), mother; Dorothy Sarah, his siblings, as well as a very large circle of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. He was predeceased by his father Victor Grenfell Mesher, his brother Stewart, and daughter Hollie.

His younger brother, Harvey Mesher, works as General Manager at Makivvik\u2019s Kuujjuaq office and spoke to me on the morning of May 19. \u201cHe wrote a book. I was so impressed by that.\u201d The book is a photo essay on Labrador published in 2014 by the University of Quebec Press.

\u201cHe was quite a guy. He really liked working at Makivvik, the travels involved, seeing different places, and especially working with George Berthe,\u201d said Harvey. \u201cBob had people around him a lot, but at the same time he was a bit of a loner. He kept to himself. He was a very humble guy, didn\u2019t toot his own horn. Most of us are just finding out now that he published that book of photographs about Labrador.\u201d

Harvey also conceded that Bob had an eccentric side to him. \u201cThere were silhouettes being painted around Kuujjuaq of Elisapie, and Beatrice, and Inuit faces, anywhere, on a piece of wood on the beach, or on an electrical box on the side of the road. There has to be about 10-20 of these things around town. And I\u2019m sure it was Bob. It was one of those things that he did at six in the morning, or four in the morning, and nobody knew about it!\u201d Harvey asked Bob about it, and said he never confirmed nor denied he had made the art. \u201cI am sure it was him as I know he studied art in some of his educational journey and was very secretive in his own way.\u201d

Harvey says the family grew up in Goose Bay, Labrador. Bob and Harvey moved to Kuujjuaq in the \u201870s. Bob was about 20 and became a cook at the airport restaurant, which is now the Air Inuit staff house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing about Bob, was that he set many personal goals for himself. This included education. Lisa Mesher, Bob\u2019s niece, is Director of the Department of Post Secondary Services at Kativik Ilisarniliriniq (KI). She confirmed Bob\u2019s degrees. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992, a Master\u2019s Degree in Education Technology in 2003, and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism in 2017, all from Concordia University. In 1993 he obtained a Diploma in Education from McGill University.

Jason Annahatak is a Business Development Associate at Makivvik. I spoke to him about his relationship with Bob, both professionally, and personally. \u201cI helped him get enrolled at university when I was at the Kativik School Board managing university sponsorships,\u201d he said.

Jason was completing a Master\u2019s Degree in Psychological Counselling at Columbia University in New York. Bob travelled down to write a story for Makivvik Magazine<\/em><\/strong>, published in 2009 (Issue 88). Jason remembers it well. \u201cBefore he travelled to New York, he went to my home town of Kangirsuk and met with a few high school students. He asked them what questions they would ask me. He included the answers in the story, which was a combination photo essay and article.\u201d

The Director of Communications for Makivvik, Carson Tagoona, hired Bob as a photographer for the Ivakkak dogsled race in 2018. He spoke about Bob\u2019s photography. \u201cIt was very refined. We had a lot of candid photos of Inuit experiencing the event as it happened. He also called me from the trail to give me updates for our website.\u201d

Bob\u2019s intellectual legacy and contribution to documenting Nunavik history is established. Makivvik\u2019s magazine and annual reports are part of Quebec\u2019s online archives, known as BAnQ (Biblioth\u00e8que et Archives nationales du Qu\u00e9bec). They are at www.banq.qc.ca where Bob\u2019s stories, photographs, and illustrations can be found, spanning close to three decades of publishing.

Many of his articles were also included in a series of books published by the International Polar Institute Press, called Voices and Images of Nunavimmiut. The 10-volume series was edited by Minnie Grey and Marianne A. Stenbaek. Bob is thanked, along with George Berthe and Pita Aatami, for enthusiastic support of the project.

In 1998, Bob also co-wrote the film script for Capturing Spirit \u2013 The Inuit Journey, with Sheila Watt-Cloutier, who was then Corporate Secretary at Makivvik, Taqralik Partridge, and Gail Richardson. The 70-minute Makivvik production was shot in Kuujjuaq, with local actors. Bob was also the creative director.

Shelia Watt-Cloutier came to know Bob when he was a post-secondary student in Montreal and she was Coordinator of Student Services. She recalled that he was an exceptional mature student and tackled everything he focused on with commitment and a commendable work ethic. She also remembered that he travelled to Bowdoin College in Maine, while she was there, to do a story on her work for Makivvik News, to be shared with all Nunavimmiut.

\u201cThat\u2019s how Bob was, always finding ways to elevate what Nunavimmiut were doing and ensuring the stories were shared to the region. He will be missed by many with his quiet, calm and reflective demeanor. He contributed much to Nunavik and its people,\u201d she said.
Bob was cremated and brought back to Kuujjuaq for burial on June 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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