Grief-stricken dad carries message

MONTREAL — Raymond Brisebois’s 16-year-old daughter was struck and killed by a train in 2012, but he was never able to tell her one last time he loved her because he had kept putting off the phone call.

“Today is yesterday’s tomorrow,” he said, referring to the title of a speech that took him to the final stages of the Toastmasters International speaking competition in Washington, D.C.

Brisebois, 53, didn’t make it to Saturday’s finals but the francophone Quebecer said he was satisfied he was able to succeed and compete — in English. Moreover, he said he was also proud to spread his message that one should not wait until tomorrow to do what can be done today.

“I learned the hard way,” Brisebois said in an interview.

In 2012, he was divorced from his wife, who had custody of his daughter Marianne. As it is with many parents and their teenaged children, the relationship was “rocky” and they weren’t talking, he said.

“We both let our egos take control,” said Brisebois, from Laval, Que. “And every day I kept telling myself: ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow — I’ll call her tomorrow.’ ” In July that year, Marianne died. “The promise of tomorrow just vanished,” said Brisebois, who recently moved across the border, to Hawkesbury, Ont., with his fiancée.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with leadership and public-speaking skills. It has about 15,000 chapters in almost 150 countries.

About 30,000 people around the world competed in the English-language tournament. Brisebois made it to the final 98, which was considered the semi-finals.

After Marianne died, Brisebois was able to put his life back together again because he was “blessed by a burden.”

“I had to share the message,” said Brisebois, a leadership and publicspeaking coach

“Don’t be like me. Don’t learn the hard way. If you want to do something, do it today. Don’t take tomorrow for granted.”