According to Granville Island Tea Shop regular Patrick Couling, Brian Hemingway “touched many lives” before he died of a heart attack on November 4.

Hemingway was 67, and the ripples caused by his passing led to a well-attended celebration of life a week later. It was a fitting way to remember Hemingway, onetime Alcan employee and long-time renowned photographer and artist. Many lives were indeed touched, as evidenced by the many hours spent passing the time with Hemingway, who lived for many years in an artists’ space in Yaletown before being moved to a more wheelchair-friendly place he was not so keen on.

I have some insight here, having worked at the G.I.T.S in 2003/04. However, accounts shared amongst staff past and present all come to the same conclusion: Brian Hemingway was a very special person. Regardless of the situation and the fact he lost most of his mobility by 2004, there was always a welcoming smile when you sat down at the tea shop, located at the far end of the public market, close to the food court.

For the longest time—years, in fact—Hemingway was synonymous with the establishment (which was started by “Mark and Deb” in 1999) and was its de facto mascot. People from near and far would remember Brian’s way of charming them with a well-timed anecdote or his segue into one of his lesser- or better-known jokes/stories. And there were many...

In August 2006, the Straight reported a different kind of story. This one was an accident that had befallen Hemingway on a rainy July day just weeks before. It turned out Hemingway and Mayor Sam Sullivan had suffered accidents in similar circumstances, and the Straight noted how they shared stories about their experiences.

One anecdote relates to the headline of that story: “Ramp takes Mayor for a Ride”. What nobody but I will know is that the picture (shown above here) was of Hemingway, leading many jokers to proclaim Hemingway as mayor of Granville Island, which he more or less already was.

But the truth is, the picture was not the one I had envisaged using.

In his usually candid/coy way, Sullivan had told me there was a picture that showed him sprawled all over the place after his fall on another occasion in False Creek.

This was to be the one we used, or so we thought, and Sullivan even gave me the number of his mother, Ida, because he and his girlfriend, Lynn Zanatta, were heading there for dinner that evening. Sullivan said he would tell Ida to dig the picture out, and they would scan it and send it over to us.

Sullivan later left a rather sheepish message saying the picture could not be found. He may or may not have been stretching the truth, but in reality his omission meant the promotion of Granville Island mayor Hemingway...

If there is apt descriptor to sum this up, it would be to state that Brian was unconditional in his joie de vivre. This meant there was no favouritism, no shunning of certain people over others, no trash talk behind people’s backs, and always a smile for everybody all the time.

During the employment at the G.I.T.S., I saw Brian almost daily. It is safe to say it never felt like the contact was too much, and he was constantly energizing, never draining. His cup was always half full, even when mobility was compromised or a taxi did not arrive on time. Pure love of life, regardless of circumstance.

R.I.P Mayor Hemingway: your constituents thank you for the fond memories.

Note: A list of notable British Columbian deaths appeared on the site on December 27