CALEB NICKERSON
PONTIAC May 19, 2020
The family of a local teacher who passed away suddenly two weeks ago have raised more than $15,000 for a scholarship in his memory.
Michael Kirkham was a beloved educator at École secondaire Sieur de Coulonge who . . .
coached basketball and enjoyed the outdoors. He passed away on May 5 at the age of 52.
His children, Stéphanie and Cédric, said their father was a funny, generous soul who told great stories.
“[He was] very down to earth,” Cédric said. “You could talk about pretty much anything with him. He’d always be there for anything … He always had something to tell you. It feels like people gravitated towards him.”
“He was easy to talk to,” Stéphanie added. “I’d say he was a really funny guy, always had funny stories.”
Michael grew up in Aylmer, and was active in sports during his high school career.
“He played football, some basketball, some hockey growing up in Aylmer, at D’Arcy McGee … he loved sports and getting involved and stuff in the school,” Stéphanie said.
He moved to Val d’Or as a young man and spent more than twenty years working in the northern Quebec community as a teacher and coach. He moved to Pontiac almost four years ago to be closer to family, settling into a spot on Thorne Lake and taking up a job at ESSC.
“He coached like 20 years of basket ball here in Val d’Or,” Stéphanie said. “We were basketball players growing up so that was the main sport … He started a basketball team in Fort Coulonge when he first started but COVID sort of slowed things down.”
Michael had a passion for the outdoors, whether it was hunting, fishing or making maple syrup. He was generous with his time and resources, which attracted people to him.
“He was really outgoing and … was really knowledgeable about a lot of stuff and I think that’s why people were drawn to him and liked his energy I guess,” Stéphanie said. “I think he was also a very generous man.”
Cédric recalled that his dad would often offer some of his homemade syrup to visitors when they were leaving.
“[He’d say] take a bottle of syrup before you go.”
After being encouraged to look into creating a scholarship in their father’s memory, the siblings started a GoFundMe page to raise money for what will be known as the Michael Kirkham Education Perseverance Scholarship. It will be awarded to one or more students at ESSC who have demonstrated perseverance in their studies.
Though they originally set a modest goal of $2,000, the fundraiser took off and as of Monday, sits just north of $15,000. They were astonished by the generosity of the community and the kind words that contributors wrote.
“We never thought it would go that high,” Cédric said.
“We put $2,000 and we were being hopeful that it would reach that amount, we would never have thought that it would explode that much,” Stéphanie added. “It really was heart-warming and really was comforting to read all those comments and different testimonies from old students or colleagues that really enjoyed our father’s presence and teaching approach and stuff. I think the kids at school really appreciated that and how he taught.”
She said that they hadn’t worked out the details of how the scholarship would be distributed, but noted that due to the amount they would be able to keep it going for several years.
A funeral service will be held at St. Mark’s Church in Aylmer on Friday, May 21 at 11 a.m. and will be livestreamed to YouTube.
Stéphanie and Cédric asked that donations in their father’s memory be made to the scholarship fund (https://gofund.me/67125ec6) or to l’association québécoise de la prévention du suicide (https://www.aqps.info/dons/).
