How sad to hear of Monte’s death. Vieglas smiltis. The Latvian “greatest generation” starts to move on..
The last thread Monte started was on potatos, started on November 21. A very down to earth subject.

My condolences to his friends and family.

Juris K

We never know where we are going -
We jest and shut the Door -
Fate - following - behind us bolts it -
And we accost no more -

Emily Dickinson

My deepest condolences to Imants’ family, his wife Biruta.

This news makes me terribly sad. Imants and I shared a few emails back in October where he shared with me a few stories of his youth in Cesis. I will treasure them....

Pierre

Alda,

Thanks so much for posting the picture of Monte.
He looks exactly like my relatives!
I will miss his plain common sense and recollections of 1940, the war, etc. And his anger at people having learned nothing from history as he wrote in his last post days before his passing on. :(
I remember being impressed that a man of his years had the guts to learn this new fangled device known as the computer/internet and would actually contribute to LOL regularly.
Monte was a real man! :)

I was fortunate enough to find my cousin Monte through this forum.  Although we were geographically worlds apart, we were able to correspond through e-mail.  Having a part of my (deceased) father’s family so accessible meant a great deal to me.  His words reminded me of my dad.  The thoughtful descriptions written here make me realize that they were probably more alike than I knew.  Thank you, Monte, for the time you gave me.  I am better for having had the opportunity to know you.  Even though we never met in person, I am thankful for the short time we had together. 

i’m so sorry to all involved....pressure of work for the year 11 and 12 graduation results for Victoria, AUSR, HAS AGAIN CONSUMED my energies for so many montha,,,hope to get back to reAL WORLD SOOB..............

IGS

PS i WILL SO MUCH MISS MONTR(IMANTS(,,,,A REAL AUSTRALIAN AND A REAL LAT TO BOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)\\

SORRY, BUT i WILL TRY AND WRITE MORE WHEN i CAN............

My profuse apologies to all especially those closest to Monte.

At the time I wrote the above, I chose the first thread I could find very quickly without reading the substance of the thread.

It was only a through a private email the other day that I became aware of Monte’s passing into that other world.

I will first reply to that private email when time permits. Unhappily, I am still quite heavily involved with the delivery of our VCE results for 2006, always a very busy time of the year at work, which then cuts into private time almost inevitably. However, I guess one gets used to it after going through 20 years of this.

Until then....

Ivars

Imanta

Imanta navaid miris,
Viņš tikai apburts kluss -
No darbošanām rimis,
Zem Zilā kalna dus’.

Tam zelta pilī snaužot,
Tam zūbens nesarūs’,
Kurš, dzelzu bruņas laužot,
Kā liesmā kļuvis būs.

Par simtiem gadiem reizi,
Mazs rūķīts augšā nāk;
Un apskatās vai migla
Ap kalnu nodzist sāk; -

Un kamēr zilo miglu.
Ap Zilokalnu redz,
Tik ilgam tūkstots gadu,
Gan viņu zeme segs! -

Bet reizi Pērkoņ’dēli
Tai kalnā lodes spers!
Tad bēgs jau visi jodi;
Pēc zobeņa tas ķers.

Un saules meitas nāks
Un miglu projām trauks;
Un gaismas laika balsis
Imantu ārā sauks!

1874

Some of Imants photographic artwork..

http://www.pbase.com/alda_nina/image/71058567.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/alda_nina/image/71058569.jpg

You have me green with envy Imant!  ;)

Alda

Imants wife, Aija, asked that I post this note from her -

~~~~

This is how Imants looked when I first met him. He was different from the other boys that I went out with. We soon found that we had many things to talk about.
And could he dance a mean tango! That sharing of interests continued all our life and we both explored and got to love the Australian bush together. I am left with so many memories, they will last me the rest of my lifetime.

I was deeply touched by the many tributes that have poured into Latvians On Line
and I thank you all for that. It was hard to read them as I ended up in tears every time, but I am so glad to have them. Thank You!

Aija

http://www.pbase.com/alda_nina/image/71173202.jpg

>Until then....
>
>Ivars

I do want to write a whole lot more but in the meantime, this probably describes my own situation in the last few weeks (and a bit more to come!), particularly the first few lines.

I know I am often accused of being self-centred, but by way of apology of being completely unaware of those moments in time recently when my world narrowed to a very small focus (for about the 20th year running) and was completely oblivious to the fact that I have lost someone who I never knew all that well, but who wrote lots about what it was like to be a young man (boy?)absolutely thrown into the middle of a maelstrom (WW2) at an age when kids like me here were still buried in our schoolbooks or whatever else turned our fancy....

So, please folks, don’t misread my meaning here....I certainly don’t mean that Imants was a boy or that he was trying to fly towards the sun!

(It’s by Auden, of course.)
===

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully
along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Imants bija dizens Latviesu varonis no otra pasaules kara pedejas varonu rindas.
Ja latviesu jaunatne vinu patures ka piemeru un sekos vina ideologiskajas pedas, Latvija bus un pastaves ka latviesu tautas zeme.

L. L.

Es,gaisa speku paligs, apsolos
cina pret bolsevismu
it visos apstaklos
uzticigi, paklausigi un drosmigi
pildit savu pienakumu,
ziedojot visus savus spekus,
ka pienakas Latviesu zenam !