I Spent 17 Years Photographing One Family’s Grief and Growth
nytimes.comRich St. Pierre was 7 years old when his mother died suddenly. Well-meaning adults would tell him that “she had gone to a better place.” What, he wondered, was better than home, with him and his siblings?
As he grew up, he had hardly any memories and only a few photos of his mother. Eventually, she faded away. More than 30 years later, Rich faced another tragedy: The love of his life, Carolynne, the mother of his son — and the mother of two children from a previous marriage — was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of liver cancer.
Rich wanted to do everything he could to make sure his son, Elijah, or EJ, as everyone calls him, wouldn’t experience the same kind of loss that he had.
Carolynne, a maternity nurse known for her sharp wit, had undergone exhaustive experimental treatments around New England, desperate to buy more time.
