MAHA
September 11,2002
Maha has passed on.
Intellectual curiosity and the adventures of the mind were his hallmarks,
as well as the sensuality of the epicurean.
And, the fool could dance.
His Yea God name, Maha Baby, translates as “Great Baby”
and this is great in the sense of heart,
for his frame was slight, even though rotund.
He loved children and they he.
He had the stout and abiding faith that comes from experience of the real,
that Gaia was the echo of infinity singing to his soul.
He must have been met with ribald great joy and arching streamers of celestial light.
And, if they knew he was coming, one hell of a serious meal!
Maha once told me that he wanted his friends to have a meal of him when he was
done.
If you know him, that request goes down with a smile.
We can’t honor his wish,
but we still can taste his delicious, feisty --tangy even -- energy
as it lingers in the eternal atmosphere.
Goodbye, friend. … Enjoy the forevermore. Simplicity.
Maha Circa 1962-63
Maha's Obit in The Ithaca Journal
“Maha” Joseph Bertrand Lionel Labbe. B. March 21, 1937, Lewiston, ME.
D. August 11, 2002, Ithaca, NY. U.S.A.F. 1955-1959. He is survived by a
younger brother, Roger Labbe, now of Florida.
Maha moved to NYC after his service. There, he was employed as an
engineer for Loral Electronics, managed a coffee shop in Greenwich
Village, worked as night clerk at an uptown hotel, and generally enjoyed
himself. In 1972, he met a group of folks with whom he ventured to West
Danby NY, where they began a commune and where he lived the next few
years. Post commune life, he delivered yogurt for the nascent Brown Cow
company and worked up a business delivering foodstuffs from New York to
sundry local merchants. After a brief stint in the record biz in LA, he
returned to the Finger Lakes and puttered about wine country a bit,
finally settling in Ithaca to service computers for just-opened
Computerland. Eventually, a debilitating sleep disorder and generally
deteriorating health dictated his retirement from active work and he
spent his remaining years involved in pursuits of intellectual curiosity,
finally settling, just before he succumbed, on the ultimate philosophical
discipline --fishing.
He was friend to many, beloved of children, passionate about many things,
devoted to justice, an avowed humanist and yet a devotee of Gaia. He
will be missed.
A memorial/feast/bonfire will be held in his honor and memory October 2,
2002
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