Paul Endicott

Paul circa 1965 and, at right, In the film bio "For Paul"

The smile was always there, or mostly there, flashlight bright, signalling the inner joy that made his sadly shortened life nothing short of of a celebration.

I met him first in the mid Sixties, a few years short of Stonewall; he died in 1994, the 25th anniversary year of the riots that changed his life -- and all our lives -- forever (he couldn't march in the parade to mark the occasion, but his picture did). Paul blossomed in the Seventies and beyond; he and his film-maker partner Bruce became increasingly visible in Toronto's growing Pride movement. Our paths crossed from time to time, but to my regret I didn't see much of him before I left the city to come home to Australia. For me, he was a strikingly handsome icon on the periphery of my life. I loved him for all that he represented --but from afar.

Happily, the essence of this lovable guy has been preserved on film by Bruce -- a documentary bio called "For Paul" financed with help from the Canadian Government.

They are not dead, Who live in lives they leave behind, In those whom they have blessed, They live a life again