23026: Bell: mort de Mike Shanks

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: madison bell <mbell@goucher.edu>
----------------------------------------

Mike Shanks, who ran Haitian tractor outside of Cap until it was dechouke,
and
grew 900 acres of tobacco for the Comme Il Faut company in Petite Anse
before
that, died in Haiti in June 2004.  He leaves a wife and a young son in
Haiti.
I took him for a Haitian when we first met, for he had the most
extraordinarily
fluent Kreyol of any blanc I ever met.  In fact he was a Texan but had
spent
over 20 years in Haiti-- that is to say most of his adult life.  Some say
he
died of an envoi des morts-- physical description sounded like a heart
attack
to me.  He was a good man and I will miss him, figure some of you will
too.

ah mezami, they can't kill the spirit no matter how many times they cut
down
the tree.....

msb