Reflections on the search for Robert

There are 3 entries displayed on 1 pages.
1

Submitted by

Comments:

Name: Christopher Barrington-Leigh
From: Robert's brother
This entry: August 15, 2007

Dear friends,

It's a year since the search for Robert started.
We are remembering all the people who helped us in every way.

We have spent recent days reflecting on the wonders of Robert's life, and on
his death, and are each moving forward in our own way. It is still very
difficult and we are left with such big unanswered questions. Some of us are
still grasping the reality of what happened.
Nevertheless, we each have been able to have some positive times in the
last year. There are new beautiful things and new challenges that keep life
moving.

Above all, our communities continue to be central in our lives.
It is our hope that what happened a year ago has also helped to inspire
others in time of need to reach out to their communities for love and
support.
For our local Edmonton community, we hope this year you'll be freer to
enjoy the Fringe Festival and remaining perfect summer days.

Thank you so much --
yours, in rememberence,
the Barrington Leigh's

Submitted by

Comments:

Name: Christopher Barrington-Leigh
From: Robert's brother
This entry: March 18, 2007

Email to rmbl

It would have been Robert's 21st birthday tomorrow.

It was strange taking Robert off my email address book.

We never managed to get access to Robert's email accounts. The laws tend
to protect them as private.

My Skype (a peer-to-peer conferencing software) panel still shows him at
the top, and shows that he hasn't logged in recently (his username was "numberless"):

Robert Barrington Leigh (numberless) - Offline (last seen 08/02/2006 09:06:44PM

At one point, on the Wednesday of the search for Robert, someone at the
home HQ suddenly asked, "Has anyone emailed him?". I sent the following
absurd message into the ether:

Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:51:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh (604-221-5632)"
    <cpbl@1nterchange.ubc.ca>
To: Robert Barrington Leigh <blrobert@gmail.c0m>
Subject: We miss you

Robert,
please contact us. Phone home at 78O-439-I433.    
We love you.
christopher

Submitted by

Comments:

Name: (excerpted from Vue Weekly)
From: Edmonton
This entry: December 14, 2006

Excerpt from an article by CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS in Vue Weekly, December 2006:

In the 1970s, Old Strathcona went through a process of redevelopment similar to the current Downtown East project. Norm and Joanne Joly live and work in the Old Strathcona area and say the age and sense of continuity of the neighbourhood have a lot to do with its appeal. It plays host to older houses, small condo units and large highrises, and its density and diversity mean many of the locals can walk to nearby stores and maintain casual relationships with neighbours on a regular basis.

“Connection to space translates into concern for well being of others,” Norm Joly noted. As third-generation owners of a grocery store and a bakery/cafe on their street, the Jolys say they feel a sense of accountability to customers, who are often neighbours themselves.

As an example, they cited the outpouring of help this summer when Robert Barrington Leigh, an area resident, went missing in the River Valley.

People from all over the neighbourhood, many of whom hadn’t known him or his family, pitched in with the search. The Jolys themselves donated office space above the store for the rescue effort. They’re not sure precisely how those kinds of community ties are built, but they add that a mixture of housing for different income levels “means people who have more feel more accountable to those who have less.”