Raymond Labbe: A Transformed Life Transforms Others

Ray Labbe’s recovery from cancer not only restored his health but gave him a sense of purpose that guided him for the rest of his life.

Raised a Roman Catholic, he had drifted away from his childhood faith until he became seriously ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“In the course of the cancer, he reconciled his relationship with God,” said his wife, Linda. “He wanted to do full-time ministry.”

Labbe grew up in Berlin, N.H., the son of Julien Labbe, a chemist at a paper mill, and Florence Labbe, a lab technician. He graduated from Notre Dame High School, where a schoolmate, Linda Dupuis, asked him to a Sadie Hawkins dance after a friend suggested she was going to invite him.

“That was it,” Linda said, and they married in 1972.

Labbe obtained a certificate in electronics from New Hampshire Vocational Technical College. For several years, he operated a television repair business, then worked for the state of New Hampshire repairing audio-visual equipment in schools around the state.

In the late 1970s, the Labbes moved to East Hartford after Pratt & Whitney hired him to do sheet metal work. In 1985, Labbe was diagnosed with cancer, and during his recovery, he decided to change the course of his life and reach out to others.

After some research, the Labbes decided to cast their lot with Friend Ships Unlimited, then known as the Park West Children’s Fund, based in Seattle. Headed by Don and Sondra Tipton, the group was refurbishing a World War II cargo ship, intending to fill it with food and medical equipment and sail it to Central America.

The Tiptons quickly accepted the family as volunteers, and the Labbes, whose daughters were then 8 and 13, rented their house, gave away most of their furniture, and quit their jobs (Linda was a licensed practical nurse at a nursing home and worked part-time in real estate).

They set off for Seattle in their van in September 1988, taking with them only what would fit in the car. The children were allowed one toy each.

The basic elements of middle class life — a job, insurance, school, a steady income — were gone. “We were basically giving up on our lives,” she said, “going to live for nothing.”

In Seattle, the boat, renamed the Spirit, was in the harbor, but had no heat or hot water, and there was no motor — in fact, the Coast Guard predicted that it would never run again under its own power. Water and electricity were jury-rigged — a long extension cord for power and a hose for water came from the fish processing plant on the dock. Gas generators provided some power.

Together with a handful of volunteers, the Labbes worked to make the ship seaworthy. They home-schooled their daughters and collected food from grocery stores that they distributed to local homeless missions. Labbe held prayer sessions for groups on shore, where he played his guitar.

They learned what it was like to live without an income, sustained only by donations of food and clothing. Linda went from being a well-dressed real estate agent to “looking like a street person,” and the experience changed their lives. “It gave us some insight into how other people are perceived,” Linda said, and helped them realize they could live with less — a lot less.

Finally, the ship was ready to sail and received all necessary permits. The maiden voyage was to San Pedro, Calif., where volunteers loaded the ship with 5,000 cubic tons of food, medicine, syringes, beds, baby formula, tractors and fire engines.

In August 1990, the ship, with a crew of 70, including the Labbes, sailed to Nicaragua, Salvador and Guatemala.

By this time, the Labbes had decided it was time to go back to Connecticut and start their own outreach program. After the ship returned to California, they were ready, with only $32, and planned to spend the night with church members along the way, but at the last minute, a pastor showed up with a check for $300.

After their return to Manchester in November 1990, Linda went back to work as a nurse and Ray stayed home to teach the children. Living off donations had made such an impression on them that they didn’t rush off to stores to furnish their house or buy new clothes.

“It just wasn’t important. Life isn’t all about furniture. It’s about people,” Linda said.

Each week, they took $35 from their budget and bought food to make soup and sandwiches, which they distributed in poor sections of Hartford.

Eventually they moved their program, which they called Isaiah 58 Outreach, to New Britain, and slowly people from various churches learned about the program and began to volunteer.

In 1993, the Labbes moved to Glastonbury, where their tiny kitchen became the nucleus of their ministry. Grocery stores, bakeries and Scott’s Orchard donated their surplus, and every week, Ray would cook up 35 pounds of meat. Volunteers from churches in Hebron, South Windsor and Glastonbury would make soup, chili or sandwiches on Saturday mornings and then take the food and their prayers to New Britain.

“We felt the only way to help them is to meet them at their practical needs,” said Linda. “Over a period of time, they got to know us. We’ve seen lives transformed.”

When he wasn’t working on behalf of his ministry, Labbe loved fly fishing, and would catch insects, freeze them, and design flies that resembled them. Friends said he had a knack for catching fish no one else could land.

Labbe’s lymphoma returned in 1995, but he beat it after a stem-cell transplant and extensive treatment. He died unexpectedly of natural causes.

“He had tremendous joie de vivre,” said his wife. “He gave us an adventure of a life.”

“Ray was a genuinely giving person,” said Tom Healy, an Outreach volunteer. “He was trying to meet their basic needs and at the same time, tell them about Jesus. … There was never any judgment. It was, ‘There but for the grace of God go us.’”

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Full story and link can be found here:

http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-exlife0419.artapr19,0,1322535.story

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