Surviving Isolation in a Time of Pandemic
How telephone chats with friends, scrapbooks, memories, and a
pragmatic philosophy are helping Eddie St. Pierre get through
MARGARET PATRICIA EATON
In 2015, former Prime Time
editor Rayanne Brennan profiled
Eddie St. Pierre, describing the
sportswriter, editor, and columnist,
as “The Dean of Sports Journalism”
and “The Saint.”
The first title was the result of his
60-year newspaper career which
“brought him face to face with
the 20th Century’s greatest sports
celebrities. In turn he brought these
celebrities to life for the readers
of the Times & Transcript,” she
wrote. Meanwhile, the
title of ‘Saint’ was earned
by virtue of volunteer
work for The Kidney
Foundation and other
charitable organizations,
and compassion that leads
him to visit the sick and
elderly and befriend those
less fortunate.
As a raconteur par
excellence with a larger
than life personality, we
wondered how Eddie was
coping with isolation,
so we reached him via
telephone in mid-April at
People’s Park Tower where
he has lived since 2018.
“I just have to grin and bear
it,” he responded, “and hope things
turn out for the best, but it’s going
to take awhile. You do the best
you can with what you have. Some
people are a lot worse off.” He
says he appreciates all the measures
taken by the administration to
ensure residents’ safety, including
closing the dining-room and
delivering meals to the apartments.
Eddie, who turns 87 on August
21, says in pre-pandemic times
he enjoyed breakfast in the
dining-room, chatting with table
mates “about whatever”, sharing
newspapers, walking in Centennial
Park, and visiting friends and
family. He would check in on old
friends no longer mobile, drop into
the Moncton Press Club, bring
treats to his great-granddaughters,
attend Blue Eagles and Wild Cats
hockey games and was looking
forward to baseball season. “Then
From left to right: Neil Mac Williams, Eddie,
Emily,(great granddaughter) Jenna (granddaughter)
and Audrey (great granddaughter). Although not in the
photo, Eddie also has two more great granddaughters
MacKenzie Barbara St. Pierre and Odessa Arsenault.
once a week we had a group that
used to go out to Shediac for lunch
and talk about the old days,” he
says. “Since Covid-19 we talk on
the phone but it’s not the same as
face-to-face.”
Now instead of live hockey games,
he is watching NHL highlights
on TV, and looking through
scrapbooks filled with articles he
wrote between 1951 and 2014,
which bring back memories of the
people he interviewed, wrote about,
and made friends with. Among
them were NHL players Bobby
Orr, Gordie Howe and Rocket
Richard; boxers Yvon Durelle and
Archie Moore, and former baseball
player, manager and scout Clyde
Sukeforth, who by signing Jackie
Robinson, broke the colour barrier
in MLB. “You never know when
you are part of history,” he says
reflecting on the interesting life
he has led.
But Eddie’s friends are not
limited to sports celebrities.
“Through the newspaper you
meet all kinds of people, not
just sports but businesspeople
and politicians,” he says,
referencing the late Governor
General Romeo LeBlanc
and his son, Dominic; and
Premiers Frank McKenna,
Louis Robichaud, Bernard
Lord and Shawn Graham,
“and I was close to people
at all levels.”
He recalls his friendship
with ‘Fast Eddie’ Leger, a
street person, who “was quite
a character and pretty sharp.”
When ‘Fast Eddie’ died, Eddie
“arranged a proper funeral for
him at St. Bernard’s, with several
hundred in attendance, including
judges he had stood before.”
“So, I’m doing OK,” he says,
coming back to the present. “I’m
doing the best I can, but you
have to roll with the punches.
It’s a change, but that’s the
way life goes.”
SUMMER/ÉTÉ 2020 PrimeTime 13