Queen's student dies climbing Dupuis Hall

From the Kingston Whig-Standard
By Dawn Cuthbertson
Monday, May 02, 2005 - 07:00

Local News - Nicholas Beaulieu and Toby Stier couldn’t wait to finish their spring exams so they could spend the summer climbing mountains out West. The best friends and students at Queen’s University had their four-month adventure all planned. Mr. Beaulieu, 19, was scheduled to fly home to Okotoks, Alta., this week after moving into his new house on Aberdeen Street. Stier, 21, was going to try his luck hitchhiking.

The duo were regulars at the Boiler Room climbing gym in Kingston and took day trips to smaller climbing spots in the surrounding area to prepare themselves for a summer of working a little and climbing a lot, Stier told The Whig-Standard yesterday. “We loved climbing in Ontario but it always felt like a warm up to the mountains,” he said. “We had big plans to meet in Calgary.” Stier’s voice broke yesterday as he recalled a phone call last week that tragically changed his summer plans, and his life.

Kingston emergency crews found Nicholas Beaulieu without vital signs Wednesday afternoon after he fell almost three-storeys from a building on the Queen’s campus that he had been climbing. Witnesses told Kingston Police that the second-year life sciences student had almost reached the top of Dupuis Hall, near the corner of Division and Clergy streets, when he lost his footing and fell.

Bystanders watched in horror as the young man’s body landed on a truck and then the sidewalk. He was rushed to Kingston General Hospital and died Friday afternoon with his parents, Stephen and Donita, by his side. “It was just an accident,there’s no other way to explain it,” Stuart Koch, Nicholas’s uncle, said in an interview. A member of the Queen’s Climbing Club, Mr. Beaulieu was reportedly free soloing, or climbing without the aid of a rope, when he fell.

Koch and his wife, Jeanne, rushed to Kingston from their home in King City to support Stephen and Donita who, on Friday, made the agonizing decision to take their son off a respirator and arrange for his organs to be donated. Mr. Beaulieu aspired to be a doctor in a Third World country one day so his parents didn’t hesitate to donate his organs, Koch said. “Hopefully this will give someone else a chance to live,” he said. Focused on improving his climbing skills, the young man didn’t smoke and limited his alcohol intake to one or two drinks when out with friends. “Whoever gets the organs are going to be very fortunate people,” Koch said.

Nicholas Beaulieu was just five years old when his father, Stephen, took him climbing for the first time, Koch said. Father and son often travelled seven kilometres west out of Okotoks to climb Big Rock, a glacial formation. The mammoth boulder appeared outside the small town of 14,000 people after the last ice age. Okotoks is about 18 kilometres south of Calgary. Koch said his nephew was a strong, experienced and respected climber. Mr. Beaulieu found solace in climbing around Christmas when he was having problems with a former girlfriend, Koch said. “His marks were suffering and that’s when he got back into [climbing]. It brought back his personality and got him out of a depression.” “He was such a free spirit who just loved life and gave so much to others,” he said. “He was a perfect kind of individual.”

Mr. Beaulieu made dozens of friends while working as as a YMCA counsellor and lifeguard in Okotoks, his uncle said. He also enjoyed skiing, snowboarding, playing guitar and piano. Leaving Alberta to attend university in Ontario wasn’t an easy decision for him, but he chose Queen’s because he thought it had the best medical school, Koch said. “He had the feeling that it was time to flex his wings and get away from home.” Mr. Beaulieu’s siblings, Annalise, 18, and Alexander, 9, were looking forward to having their brother home for the summer, Koch said. “His dad had even fixed up an old car for him to use.” Alexander will especially feel the loss because his “whole world” revolved around his older brother, Koch said. “It will be very, very hard for him to deal with the fact that [his brother] is not coming home.”
Greg Stewart, 19, said he became close friends with Mr. Beaulieu last year when the two lived together in residence. “He could put a smile on anyone’s face,” he said. The roommates found common ground in music, kicking around a hacky sack and, eventually, climbing. Stewart said he was hoping to join Mr. Beaulieu and Toby Stier during the summer and had arranged for them to visit his parent’s home in California. Stewart said he spoke to Mr. Beaulieu moments before he left their Wellington Street house to climb Dupuis Hall. “He was a little bit nervous but excited to get out there to do what he loved.”
More than 200 school and climbing friends visited Mr. Beaulieu’s bedside while he was in hospital, Koch said. Donita Beaulieu gave them a blank book and encouraged them to write down their favourite memories of him for her to share with his siblings, Koch said. “They were all very passionate and there was a lot of tears,” he said. Some of the comments were written by friends who climbed with Mr. Beaulieu in Kentucky over spring break. Queen’s principal Karen Hitchcock and Bob Crawford, dean of student affairs, visited the hospital Friday to offer their condolences to family and friends. “It was heartbreaking to see the grief of those who knew and loved this young man,” Crawford said in a statement. “He had clearly touched many lives.”

A memorial service will be held for Mr. Beaulieu in September when classes resume, Queen’s chaplain Brian Yealland said. “This is just a terrible, terrible tragedy to lose a young man so talented,” he said. Stephen and Donita Beaulieu will return for the service, Yealland said. Kingston’s climbing community is devastated by the loss of one of their own, said Martin Honig, co-owner of the Boiler Room. “We feel terrible for his family and friends and the community at large,” he said. Toby Stier said he’ll remember Mr. Beaulieu for his quirky fashion sense, which included oversized sunglasses and regular trips to Value Village. “I remember one shopping trip that led us all over town searching for the perfect pair of neon spandex pants for a climbing competition,” Stier said. “He was awarded the title of ‘best dressed’ even though the category didn’t even exist before he showed up.” A funeral will be held in Calgary later this week, Koch said. “They are expecting a massive turnout.”