Mr. David Lajoie, Sexton
Lela approaches me with the idea of a profile and says, "Though you don't worship here, we'd still like to know who are." My response, "I'm a transitioning Catholic!" As a matter of fact, this stage of my life is all about major changes, which include finding a spiritual home. (In a sense I consider working at St. John's one form of worship.)
Transitioning from a fantastic career with the Air Force, and making a commitment to a lifelong passion of art and music has been an interesting 3 year journey. (I must say, I'm glad it's led me here.) I flew on a KC135 Stratotanker as a Boom Operator, Instructor and Flight Evaluator. Part of a 4 man crew, we refueled other aircraft inflight, and also transported troops and cargo around the world. I thank God for the incredible experiences and people I met along the way.....and miss it tremendously!
I've been a portrait painter and freelance commercial artist since the 70s. (But at heart I'm a surrealist.) A guitarist also, I performed locally in a variety of ensembles for 10 years prior to my military career. I'm influenced by music from around the world and have recently recorded, produced, and engineered 4 CDs with local musicians. For samples of my work, feel free to check out www.home.earthlink.net/~s1artworks
I'm number 2 of 8 children, my family originating from Van Buren, Maine. (Top of the map, next to New Brunswick.) We settled in Hampton NH in 1969, when my father retired from the Air Force. I'm single and have been living in Eliot, Me. since 1992......though southern Spain or Hawaii are sound good when we're under tons of snow!
It is my hope that being the Sexton here will not only support my art and music, but fill a void with a sense of community, purpose, and spirituality.
So who is Dave Lajoie? My fellow crewmembers nicknamed me Socrates. That might give you a clue.
From the Rector:
Dave Lajoie is quite simply a gift from God. He is passionate about St. John’s and his role here. He began as our night sexton and has since taken over as our full-time sexton. A sexton is much more than a custodian. In many ways care-taker does not even cover it. Building engineer/artist/pastor/problem-solver/friend begins to cover what we have come to expect from Dave. Full-time is a gross understatement when describing his work. Dave is at work more than he is not. When he was hired as the full-time sexton I said that we needed to hire someone to fill his shoes in the evening. I never knew how hard or near impossible that would be. Some good news is that Jim Drelick has just begun training as our night sexton so that Dave can work a much more sane schedule. Dave and Jennifer Baird are the people behind the scenes that rarely receive kudos for the work that they do. Without the two of them, our level of organization and professionalism at church would suffer immeasurably.
(Posted May 28, 2007 by lela)
