Although I have not known Maurice personnally, I thanked him often for all the help he gave me with stories and photos he had sent for the historical site and we still had lots to do - very sorry that he left us so soon after retiring.

 

Laval Desbiens - 2009

 

 

It is with great sadness that I learned about the sudden passing of my friend and colleague Maurice Thériault. so soon after his retirement. " Mo " was a superb human being, a "down-to-earth" individual and a gentleman. I enjoyed working alongside him in Moncton from 2004 to 2007. He was an expert on MapInfo and he worked on the development of REGIS (Regional Emergency Geographical Information System) and GISMO (Geographical Information for Spectrum Management Officers).

 

" Mo ", you will be missed my friend.

 

Donald Courcy - 2009

 

 

From personnal correspondence, Rachel King remembers:

 

Personally, I met Mo when I first started working with DOC in 1980. He was an Inspector back then working out of the Moncton Sub-Office which was located at that time on the same premises as the Moncton Regional Office.

 

Eventually, he took on other positions within the Department that were more desk jobs than field work, where his skill at informatics and software soon became an asset. I can tell you that he was a methodical man, who took his time to work at any project in order to assure good results. He hated to rush through something and do a sloppy job. I worked with him on several projects during the years and found him to be a great collaborator who normally showed patience and a positive attitude towards anything he endeavoured to take on and who treated all his co-workers with the utmost respect. His abilities with software made him the expert in MapInfo in our Region, and, over the years, he collaborated in the creation of several automated systems, specifically, recently, the REGIS program (if you need more information on this specific program, you can contact Steve Mills here in Moncton).

 

On a personal basis, Maurice was a kind friend, a man who loved laughter and a good joke, a family man who adored children. He and his beloved wife Linda spent several years running an after-school program and recently worked with an autistic boy. Mo was particularly proud of that young boy who came to them when he was 3 or 4 years old, unable to speak and barely able to function. Two years later, he was in kindergarten, and entered the first grade at six at public school, attaining goods marks and able to enter society with very little help. That boy's achievement was one of Mo's greatest joy in his last years, I think, but that couldn't surpass his becoming a grand-father. I know that he felt blessed to have three lovely daughters, and his one grandson, Jeremy, whom he unashamedly dotted on.

 

Rachel G. King

 

Maurice Thériault with the Broadcast Van - 1989