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Mom calls for acts of kindness to mark anniversary of son’s fatal hockey accident

Maple Ridge’s Trulsen died while playing a rec hockey game in Langley one year ago
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Noah Trulsen and mom Lorraine on his graduation day. (THE NEWS/files)

In a lineup at a Tim Hortons restaurant in Maple Ridge on Friday morning, a woman told the cashier she would like to also pay the customer’s order at the next till.

Staff warned her the next customer had an order for a crew – eight sandwiches and eight coffee. The generous woman insisted she still wanted to pay the stranger’s tab, as a random act of kindness.

The family and friends of Noah Trulsen are grieving the anniversary of his death on Oct. 4, 2018, and promoting it as Random Act of Kindness Day. A lot of people are apparently taking that to heart, said his mother Lorraine Trulsen, who is hearing these stories on Friday.

Trulsen was 22 years old when he died playing in a men’s recreational hockey league game in Langley. He tripped and fell head-first into the boards, suffering a fatal injury. The untimely death sent shock waves through the Lower Mainland hockey community.

“I’m hoping it’s a day of kindness in his memory,” said Lorraine. “He was a giving person. If someone needed help, he would give help. If someone needed money, he would give them money.”

She would like people to post their random acts of kindness in social media, as a humble brag about what they did to honour Noah’s spirit of giving.

The family is also hosting the Second Annual Noah Trulsen Scholarship Fundraiser on Nov. 16, with a charity game at Cam Neely Arena in Maple Ridge, and silent auction that will include signed and authenticated NHL memorabilia.

The date was chosen as it would have been Noah’s 24th birthday.

Last year, the event resulted in a $1,200 local scholarship for a grad from Samuel Robertson Technical. The family will donate an annual scholarship to a graduating Maple Ridge student who is going into the trades, who is probably a hockey player, and who exemplifies Noah’s positive outlook on life. The fund is nearing the point where the local scholarship can be given in perpetuity.

Organizers of the event are still looking for local supporters, and can be reached here.


 

@NeilCorbett18
ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com

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Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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