Helen Zachariades-Cartier and several others asked me to post Mike’s eulogy:
Good afternoon I’ll start by saying Mike Cartier was a star. My name is Chris VanSlambrouck, Helen asked me to say a few words in eulogy of Mike.
Thank you, I am honored and eternally grateful for the opportunity to do so
I’m recently and happily retired from 20 years military service with a few combat tours. And my friend, instructor, and mentor Mike was my brother – as close to my heart as, ….no closer than any one I’ve ever served with.
I say that knowing full well some of those men and women I’ve served with are the very definition of what people call heroes.
There are a great deal of things that can and should be said about my brother Mike and I can only hope to list of few of them…
For those of us who had the privilege to know and love him, we know he lived a storied life one that was rich and full. Full of adventure and misadventure , of Love & loss, and with a fair amount of what some would call hijinks, but also it was a life full of love , compassion , Grace and a servitude to his family
it was certainly a life lived and not squandered.
It was also unfortunately a life-cut far too short as is often the case with the lives of great men and great teachers.
To me and to many warriors the only real commodity that we have on this Earth is time , our time and how we choose to spend it And with whom we wish to spend it with.
Mike loved his family fiercely. Helen we spoke of you and of his children, often – his love was deep…cavernus. Martial arts were his life’s path, but his family was his true passion.
Mike really understood me and that was one of the wonderful things about Mike.
he had a gift . He was able to perceive where people were at in their walk of life and then meet them there as a friend and equal or as a mentor, whatever they needed of him, he would be for them… If they would only let him
Mike had that sort of gravity about him
Like a Napoleon or rather like an Alexander
If one fell into his orbit even briefly then he affected that life… normally for the better , especially so with martial or philosophical instruction
And his reach well his orbit , was fantastically large. He touched, or rather impacted many many people’s lives to their betterment…
I am but one of those lives but I assure you I am voicing the opinion of hundreds , or thousands.
It has been and will always be one of the greatest honors to have known shared time , that most precious of commodities, with this brother of mine.
I know Mike called for a celebration and he wouldn’t have wanted any wailing or nashing of teeth. So if this is a celebration I have precious little to give. Aside from my voice. Mike was a star, and I don’t have a gold or silver star but I do have a bronze one– and it now rests with him eternally. Thank you.