Xavier Guiot, 1947-2022

This past Saturday, I learned that my friend and brother-in-law Xavier had passed away a week earlier from what seemed to be Covid-19. From what I was able to gather, he was vaccinated. 

I came to know Xavier during the winter of 1967 in Morzine, France. Almost every weekend, we saw each other on the slalom course at that base of the Pleney tram where we both attempting to get the so important “Chamois d’Argent” that would enable us to take the entry exam into French ski instruction certification. 

Two years later, I found him as a ski instructor member of the Avoriaz ski school where he had just begun teaching the year before. Since we already know each other, we became good friends. 

Xavier had just married Paule, my future wife’s sister and they both had settled in an old multi-family house near the Morzine suspended pedestrian bridge. 

Xavier was a bit aloof, perhaps self-centered or may be both, but still I liked the guy. 

Later on, I met my wife thanks to that relationship, and we were closely involved during the strife that opposed half of the ski school to each others. 

We both had a hard time finding a counter-seasonal job, and eventually, just like me, Xavier threw the towel and took a job as big-box retail store manager in the Champagne region of France. 

In the early 90s some family arguments about heritage harmed the relationship and we stopped having a normal relationship...