Monday, February 22, 2021
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Louis had a captivating ability to instantly turn strangers to friends, and to make everyone around him feel at ease, seen, and respected. He seemed to live on a different level from the rest of us, fiercely passionate and infectiously zen—he was a truly wonderful enigma.
When we were together, Louis befriended a man who had fallen on hard times and was living on the street near his home. It seemed only natural to Louis to invite this nice man to move in and live on his couch and help him toward a better life. It was hard for Louis to understand why his roommate at the time might have felt uncomfortable with this lovely gesture, because generosity was so built-in for Louis. When I think of this memory, it makes me smile at his beautiful heart, and laugh at his audacity. He lived the way we all want to live — with instinctual humanity, without regard for rules or conventions, and without reservation or regret.
Louis rented a rundown house for us to live in one summer, and I’ll never forget that our one house rule was that we couldn’t have any arguments near his plants, because he didn’t want to inadvertently transfer any bad energy to them :) I love this memory; for me it incapsulates so much about how Louis lived his life and saw his place in the world, as protector, nurturer of life, explorer.
These photos of Louis are from my Dad’s fishing cabin on the Deschutes River. Louis was one of the goofiest people I’ll ever know, and every time you put a camera in front of him he copped a funny face. It used to drive me crazy that I couldn’t get him to take a normal photo, but now I treasure the memory of him resisting, holding his funny faces as long as he possibly could. This is a rare photo of Louis where he just looks really happy, like Louis did when there wasn’t a camera. I have a feeling my Dad was behind me making faces that got Louis to give a genuine laugh. I don’t have many photos of him, so I’m grateful that many others have also captured the classic Louis faces.
My Dad’s cabin and the land is really special to my family, and Louis got that completely, and made it feel even more sacred. He was thrilled at the chance to wade in freezing water, on steep muddy slopes, with whipping wind that makes it impossible to cast, because it meant learning to fly fish with my Dad. He was so committed to family, to his own, whom he loved deeply, and to the family he created in this world everywhere he went.
We all have a lot to learn from the way Louis lived. He was a good man, and a good friend, I’ll miss him dearly, and I can’t say how heartbroken I am that this happened. Deepest condolences to his family, Geni, George, Anna, and Lauren, and to all of his loved ones and friends
-Hayden Winslow Forster