Remembering An Athlete and A Friend
By Peter Foley
December 20, 2000
December 20, 2000
Family, Friends, Classmates and former Teammates:
I stand before you with very mixed emotions at the passing of Payson Corbiere. Like so many of you, my heart is heavy with the normal emotions one feels at a time like this, yet my spirits are buoyed at having known, as well as having been associated with, such an outstanding young man.
He was a loving son to both Dotty and Adrian, a caring brother who had a very special relationship with his sister Caitlin, and a special friend to Tia with whom he shared an all too short time. Payson was a special person who got dealt a real bad hand very early in life. As a hemophiliac, he was very restricted as to what sports and activities he could become involved in. Those of you who knew him, were well aware of his love as well as passion for sports. As a middle school student, he was dealt another cruel blow in the form of a bad blood transfusion, and on top of this nearly lost the sport he loved -swimming -when he underwent some significant shoulder surgery as an 8th grader. Yet with these three strikes against him, rather than give in, he chose both to pursue as well as live life to its fullest. He pursued the sport of swimming with a passion and was an All-Scholastic swimmer in high school and then took it to another level, earning All American honors while competing at Ohio Wesleyan. Along the way he was a supportive teammate, an inspirational leader and a fun-loving classmate. I remember on days when he couldn't practice that he would help Coach Valle and me by taking over a lane and working with our younger swimmers.
Over the last few days, many memories of Pay have come to mind, two of which I will share:
Those of you who knew Pay also remember that he was not immune to mischief, or as I frequently referred to it as "Donkey Business." We as a group have shared many a good laughs over the years about his various escapades, especially last February at the motel the night before the state meet. In his role as co-president of the student body, Pay was always about building school spirit, sometimes in the form of unauthorized Christmas decorations or setting up special deliveries to the attendance office. As a junior Pay and Al Weiss had "school spirit" as a major part of their platform while running for co-presidents of the student body. They vowed that one of their first acts in office would be to reinstate the Thanksgiving Pep Rally that had been disbanded after their freshman year. It seems that the class of '92 was more than ready for the anticipated bombardment of pancakes by the seniors as required by one of our infamous long standing traditions. They, the freshman class, many of whom are sitting in the audience today, met the first salvo of senior thrown pancakes with a barrage of their own that also included water balloons. In the ensuring melee, the principal received more than one pancake off his head and dutifully informed me the following Monday that that was the end of the Pep Rally tradition. Fast forward the camera three years to September of '91, and there is Payson making an impassioned speech to Mr. MacDonald to reinstate the rally. How it would be great for morale as well as school spirit and most importantly insuring him that he (Bruce MacDonald) wouldn't have to worry about the freshmen getting out of hand. Bruce gave him one of his stern looks and said, "Damn right I won't because they're all seniors now." Needless to say the rally went off great and a very important tradition at Weston High School had been restored and continues to live on.
As you can see, Payson was quite an individual who was loved by all. Unfortunately I don't think he ever fully realized the impact he had on so many of us. Throughout his ordeals, I never heard him complain. Many times when I have experienced temporary setbacks or trivial upsets, I would think of his travails and shrug my shoulders, say get serious, and simply move on.
Last fall Payson returned to the area and in his role as coordinator of the pre-season swim program and subsequently as a volunteer coach last winter he touched as well as impacted another generation of high school swimmers. They were devastated to hear the sad news on Saturday, and as they continue to process their grief, they, like so many of his classmates, former teammates, friends, and family members will indeed count themselves fortunate to have come in contact with such an outstanding
In closing I would like to read two stanza's of Alfred Housman's poem:
TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG
The time you won you town the race
We chaired you through the market-place
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Today Weston is a stiller town, but also a very fortunate town to have been touched by the presence of Payson Corbiere. Dotty, Adrian, Caitlin and Tia, our hearts as well as our prayers are with you at this most difficult of times.
I stand before you with very mixed emotions at the passing of Payson Corbiere. Like so many of you, my heart is heavy with the normal emotions one feels at a time like this, yet my spirits are buoyed at having known, as well as having been associated with, such an outstanding young man.
He was a loving son to both Dotty and Adrian, a caring brother who had a very special relationship with his sister Caitlin, and a special friend to Tia with whom he shared an all too short time. Payson was a special person who got dealt a real bad hand very early in life. As a hemophiliac, he was very restricted as to what sports and activities he could become involved in. Those of you who knew him, were well aware of his love as well as passion for sports. As a middle school student, he was dealt another cruel blow in the form of a bad blood transfusion, and on top of this nearly lost the sport he loved -swimming -when he underwent some significant shoulder surgery as an 8th grader. Yet with these three strikes against him, rather than give in, he chose both to pursue as well as live life to its fullest. He pursued the sport of swimming with a passion and was an All-Scholastic swimmer in high school and then took it to another level, earning All American honors while competing at Ohio Wesleyan. Along the way he was a supportive teammate, an inspirational leader and a fun-loving classmate. I remember on days when he couldn't practice that he would help Coach Valle and me by taking over a lane and working with our younger swimmers.
Over the last few days, many memories of Pay have come to mind, two of which I will share:
- During his junior year he had a real nasty and deep bruise on his thigh as the result of being inadvertently kicked by a teammate in practice. About a week later, we were at Atkinson Pool getting ready for the DCL Championship meet and he asked me to stand by the door of the pool office while he administered his medicine to help subside the bleeding in this large and lingering hematoma. My stomach got a little queasy when he took out his array of needles and started to give himself a couple of shots. While he was in the process of doing this, the pool manager came in another door to his office and said, "What the heck is going on?"Pay looked up with that impish grin of his and said, "Oh, I am just getting my steroids." Later than day he came out of the second heat to tie for the league championship in the 50 yd. Freestyle.
- A year later we were up at the Sectional meet and had made an unbelievable come back against Acton Boxboro. We had battled back to the point where the outcome of the meet was riding on a "winner take all 400 yd. Freestyle Relay." This is when Payson was at his best. Unfortunately, at the same time both Coach Valle and I had noticed him wincing and having a lot of difficulty when he started to loosen his shoulders up. When asked if he was okay, he gave us another one of his famous looks - like "are you guys serious." He then went in to swim a phenomenal lead off leg in the relay, blowing away one of Acton's best swimmers who later went on to perform at the University of Texas. We never looked back as Jeb Gutelius, Dave McFarland, and Mike Foley swam very inspired legs for the win and subsequently the sectional team title. In addition, this group set a school record that has withstood some pretty serious challenges over the last eight plus seasons.
Those of you who knew Pay also remember that he was not immune to mischief, or as I frequently referred to it as "Donkey Business." We as a group have shared many a good laughs over the years about his various escapades, especially last February at the motel the night before the state meet. In his role as co-president of the student body, Pay was always about building school spirit, sometimes in the form of unauthorized Christmas decorations or setting up special deliveries to the attendance office. As a junior Pay and Al Weiss had "school spirit" as a major part of their platform while running for co-presidents of the student body. They vowed that one of their first acts in office would be to reinstate the Thanksgiving Pep Rally that had been disbanded after their freshman year. It seems that the class of '92 was more than ready for the anticipated bombardment of pancakes by the seniors as required by one of our infamous long standing traditions. They, the freshman class, many of whom are sitting in the audience today, met the first salvo of senior thrown pancakes with a barrage of their own that also included water balloons. In the ensuring melee, the principal received more than one pancake off his head and dutifully informed me the following Monday that that was the end of the Pep Rally tradition. Fast forward the camera three years to September of '91, and there is Payson making an impassioned speech to Mr. MacDonald to reinstate the rally. How it would be great for morale as well as school spirit and most importantly insuring him that he (Bruce MacDonald) wouldn't have to worry about the freshmen getting out of hand. Bruce gave him one of his stern looks and said, "Damn right I won't because they're all seniors now." Needless to say the rally went off great and a very important tradition at Weston High School had been restored and continues to live on.
As you can see, Payson was quite an individual who was loved by all. Unfortunately I don't think he ever fully realized the impact he had on so many of us. Throughout his ordeals, I never heard him complain. Many times when I have experienced temporary setbacks or trivial upsets, I would think of his travails and shrug my shoulders, say get serious, and simply move on.
Last fall Payson returned to the area and in his role as coordinator of the pre-season swim program and subsequently as a volunteer coach last winter he touched as well as impacted another generation of high school swimmers. They were devastated to hear the sad news on Saturday, and as they continue to process their grief, they, like so many of his classmates, former teammates, friends, and family members will indeed count themselves fortunate to have come in contact with such an outstanding
In closing I would like to read two stanza's of Alfred Housman's poem:
TO AN ATHLETE DYING YOUNG
The time you won you town the race
We chaired you through the market-place
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.
Today Weston is a stiller town, but also a very fortunate town to have been touched by the presence of Payson Corbiere. Dotty, Adrian, Caitlin and Tia, our hearts as well as our prayers are with you at this most difficult of times.
