Good buddy’s untimely death hits hard

It’s been a devastating week. The untimely passing of my friend Chris Hayes struck hard at my emotions.

It took a few days to sort it all out, then put thoughts to paper and offer a glimpse of the Chris Hayes newspaper readers didn’t know.

Chris loved roaming the wilds of Cape Breton — hiking and camping — even in the dead of winter.

We first met in 1979 while covering then prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s inner circle meeting at Keltic Lodge in Ingonish.

That was almost 35 years ago and was the start of as an unlikely a friendship as there ever was — the adrenalin junky behind the TV camera and the newspaper guy — fiercely competitive on the job, but close friends to the end.

He was at my house a few hours before leaving for Cheticamp. As fate had it, we had no inkling this would be our last time together.

I always thought of Chris as a great reporter. He did the grinding beat stuff we all had to do at some point in our media careers, once in a while getting the big story, and even becoming the centre of the story for things like drawing the ire of a former Glace Bay mayor for asking tough questions.

Chris cared deeply about the people and things most important to him — his family, Cape Breton, getting the story and getting it right.

Chris looked forward to retiring in a few years. Whenever we hit the water for a day’s fishing, the conversation invariably turned to retirement or reliving some of the crazier, behind the scenes stuff that didn’t make it to print or the TV screen.

I’m going to miss those calls that started with: “Hey bud, we should get out for a little fishing.”

I’m going to miss my friend ... Chris.

Russ White Victoria Mines