Memorial chair sails to island and back

It sounds like a good Irish lark: a chair placed near Market Square in Saint John in memory of a Northern Ireland native found its way into the Bay of Fundy, rode the winter currents to Grand Manan, and is now back where it started and only a little the worse for wear, thanks to the curiosity and effort of a few islanders.
The large heavy Adirondack‑style chair appeared on the beach at Castalia Marsh on Easter weekend. Island resident Robinson Russell snapped a couple of photos and posted them on a community Facebook page, stating, "This is washed up on the grass down to the marsh; just thought someone might want it back."
A plaque on the chair reads, "May this be a place of comfort, memory, rousing dialogue and debate in honour of Shane Magee." This piqued the curiosity of another resident, who took to Google to do some digging. The spelling of "honour" and "dialogue" suggested a Canadian origin, and in just a few minutes a Saint John obituary from 2013 for a Shane Magee was found, as well as an interview on a Wordpress blog featuring his girlfriend at the time, Julia Wright, also in Saint John. A Facebook message was sent inquiring if this was in fact the Shane Magee to whom the chair was dedicated. Wright was astonished: it was.
Magee was from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He had degrees in theology and psychology, and his work included managing community groups, teaching and counselling adults and at‑risk youth, and directing the Fundy Fringe Festival. Wright, a CBC reporter, met him through work. They began dating in 2009 and were together three and a half years. "He was awesome," she says, filling in the background to the story. "He was full of ideas, the kind of person who's always talking a mile a minute, good with kids. Someone that brilliant has lots going on in their mind; the ups and downs can be extreme. He was very depressed from time to time." She speculates that separation from his family in Ireland contributed to that. In June 2013, after a period of severe depression, he went missing. Police and friends searched for him for several days and discovered that he had taken his own life with an overdose. He was 42. "It was a tragedy," Wright says. "Especially someone so young. It ripped apart our group of friends."
Magee's cremated remains were returned to Belfast, and Wright says his friends were saddened that there was no memorial for him in Saint John, so another friend bought and placed two chairs near the Trade and Convention building at Market Square. "He liked that spot," Wright says. "He loved the ocean and loved to sit there looking at the water. It was a significant spot when he was alive. So that was his memorial." The friends held a gathering at the site and released paper lanterns.
Wright says she noticed the chair was gone about a month ago. She thought someone had removed it, that perhaps the city wanted something different in that spot. "I thought, 'Too bad.'" She didn't think much more about it until she received the message from Grand Manan. It now appears the chair may have been dumped in the water. Wright says there are several bars in the area and speculates that a night of drinking might have prompted the vandalism. "Maybe someone just yanked it loose." The chair was anchored with a padlock and steel cable, which may also have rusted through. In any case, she says she bears "no ill will" toward anyone who may have removed the memorial.
With its origin identified, the chair was safely retrieved from the beach on Easter Sunday, a bit of an adventure for that curious resident with just a small car trunk to carry it, and a ride to Saint John was sought. Morton Benson offered to take the chair the following week, and on April 5 he met Wright in Saint John and returned the chair to its place beside its counterpart. Wright says she will leave it up to the friend who placed it -- and who is currently abroad -- whether to repair the missing slats in the seat or replace it with a new chair, or to leave it with the marks of its journey.
"I love Grand Manan," she says, adding that she enjoys camping there in the summer. "I had great impressions of the island and the people, and this just confirms it, how everyone worked together" to return the chair. "Only in this day and age" with so much information online would it be so easy to find someone so quickly.
Now married, Wright says knowing Magee "really changed my life." She was in her early 20s at the time. "That chapter of my life is something I'll never forget," and the chair is a reminder "of how precious life is and how important it is to hold dear the people in your life."