Jean Lapointe, a great man, simple, loving, gruff at times, open-minded, devoted to the cause of alcoholism and other drug addictions. He was so talented and versatile that with him, you might sometimes believe that anything was possible.
In the early 1980s, his consumption of alcohol and drugs became problematic and, following several unsuccessful attempts, he entered treatment at Maison Querbes, a small private treatment center for alcohol problems which was to become, a few years later, the Maison Jean Lapointe. Against all expectations, following this stay, he became sober and regularly attended AA meetings.
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Valuable advice
I suffered from the same problems and one day, at the end of my rope, I decided to follow in his footsteps and enter Maison Querbes myself. The day following my arrival, at visiting time, I noticed a hubbub in the entrance to the centre. I recognize Jean Lapointe who has just arrived. He looks at me and simply says, “You’re the new one!” Finish your internship here and do at least 3 AA meetings a week and your life will change forever. »
If someone else had said the same thing to me, I probably wouldn’t have listened, but coming from him, the advice took on a whole new meaning. I completed my internship and took his advice.
A year later, when I learn that he will soon be performing at the Grand Théatre in Quebec. I decide to attend and following the show I go to his dressing room to tell him that everything is fine and to thank him for his welcome at Maison Querbes.
He recognizes me and we talk for a few minutes and, without preamble, he says to me: “We have just opened a new treatment center in Old Montreal that will bear my name. “The Jean Lapointe House”. We need speakers. Why don’t you come and work with us in Montreal. You don’t have experience, but you will learn by working with the other speakers.
He had believed in me more than I believed in myself and that’s how our relationship started in the early 80s. It will last until his recent death.
I called him hundreds of times. Sometimes to visit someone who knew him and who wanted to be admitted to the Maison Jean Lapointe. Sometimes for a fundraising activity. He was sometimes gruff, but he always answered and I knew he was incapable of saying “no” when it came to Maison Jean Lapointe.
Mission accomplished
He was also so intense in his feelings that one day during his telethon, when we brought the first teenager on stage who was celebrating a year of sobriety, he burst into tears with the microphone in his hand and he mightn’t talk more. The phone started ringing and significant funds were used to advance the prevention of addictions among adolescents.
I thank heaven for the happiness of having been able to share your life and your last moments. Thank you, Jean, for all the alcoholics and drug addicts you have helped. For those who believed they might recover because you did. Thank you for advancing the cause of treatment for alcoholism and other addictions in Quebec. Mission accomplished!
Rodrigue Pare, former director of La Maison Jean Lapointe, now retired
