A remembrance message from Jean-Marc Hachey
I first met Terry Cottam when we were interviewing in 1987 for Canadian Crossroads International. In that year, the local Crossroads Committee turned him down because he had no international experience, and little community involvement. We encouraged Terry to reapply the following year and we told him what he needed to do to get selected.
Well off he went, and for the next year he became actively involved in Crossroads, and started doing a lot community work. When he reapplied the next year, the committee had no choice but to select him. He worked tirelessly for Crossroads, and became a "cared-for-friend" of the local committee, Laura MacPherson, Mark Colburn, and Kate Widden. It seems that everyone took care of him while he took care of the larger issues.
This was soon to become a pattern of Terry's life. While he may have looked frail, and somewhat socially awkward, he always earned the respect, and caring of others. He was strong and tireless when it came to working on global human rights and environmental issues. He was weak when it came to taking care of himself.
Yet, Terry was always much stronger then he at first appeared.
On the eve of his departure for his placement to Indonesia in 1989, Denise Bealieu, our local committee coordinator, received a call from Crossroads head office in Toronto. They were unsure if Terry was fit for a developing world placement. Denise, who had worked with Terry for a full year, and had seen his strength - beyond his surface-frailty - and she ardently backed him. And sure enough, Terry went on to have a very successfull placement in Indonesia, and much travel afterward. Terry sent back numerous interesting and insightful letters while he traveled. Through his letters, we got to know and appreciate Terry even better. And here again, somewhat like today, we only began to fully discover him after he was gone.
I really started to know Terry in 1991, when I first employed him on the eve of producing the first edition of my book, The Canadian Guide to Working and Living Overseas. He had a natural ability with computers, and was instrumental in designing the complex layout required for this 1000 page guide. I could not have built my business without Terry.
Terry did however cause me the odd problem.
For example, a continuous discussion between us revolved around getting Terry to submit his monthly invoice. After a few days of humming and hawing, he would break down and sometime tearfully confess *"He had no time-sheets, no invoice. He had not done any work for me!" While he came into the office, he had actually been working on a "very pressing" campaign for The Friends of the Rainforest, or on Burma etc.
In fact, I fired Terry on at least three occasions, all because he forgot to work for me, and worked instead on his causes!
He would get so caught up with his activism, that he submitted lower then realistic invoices to me. I often had to negotiate "up" his invoices . . . "Terry" I would say, "you need a salary, you need to put food on the table, to pay the rent. " No * Terry found it more important to work on human rights and the environment. My office eventually became an activist publishing house where for nine years Terry produced posters and flyers, and organised campaigns.
Terry was so self-effacing. I can remember the first time I seriously fired Terry, (It was the first time I had fired anyone), I sheepishly ran into him the day after, at a public meeting on liberating South Africa from apartheid. As I tried to avoid his gaze, up he came, talking in as warm and as friendly a manner as if nothing, not even a firing, had ever happened. He was never concerned for himself, so how could "being fired" affect our relationship?
I continued to fire Terry regularly over the years, and there he was, back at ISSI each time within a month or so, offering his invaluable expertise.
Terry was a big supporter of my book. He agreed fervently with its underlying philosophy on the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity and understanding. The Guide has helped shape a decade of young international-job-seekers. Terry Cottam has been instrumental in the books' success. I would have been hard pressed to have completed the three editions without his expertise.
He scrutinised every word, the meaning of every sentence, to ensure that the message was inclusive of all peoples of the world, (... and did not support big business).
He insisted that we index Burma under "B," not under "M" for Myanmar.
Whenever my senior editors were searching for clarity, for the right word, they all learnt to go see Terry. In a snap, he had the exact word for the exact meaning.
Terry helped everyone with their computer problems, he was patient and always made himself available. He was an expert in databases, and was instrumental in helping me design and maintain the complex systems which support the book and ISSI.
Terry's layout skills were unparalleled. Self taught, he was a perfectionist, a master of balance, a warrior against clutter.
Terry was a strong person. He carried the full weight of responsibility of final production, and he remained level-headed and offered a sea of maturity during these times.
Despite his sometimes-awkward manner, Terry was a very social person. He liked company. He always took his lunch with others. He never sat alone. He in fact never refused a social invitation, no matter how he was feeling. He always came to the party!
Terry liked a social work-environment. He worked particularly well when teamed up with his good friend and colleague Reid Cooper. Together they did the layout for both the 1995 and 1998-edition of my book.
I have had more than 60 employees work with me since 1991, and they all liked and respected Terry. Many took care of him, those close to him always seemed to be feeding him, taking care of those things that he could not take care of himself.
Terry was likeable, loveable, a person you wanted to take care of. He smiled often, and had a good sense of humour. He never made demands on you, never had expectations on how you should treat him. He always appreciated your company. He liked people and people liked him. I will miss him greatly and more than I can say.