CHRISTOPHER BALLANTYNE

Dear Bibi and Liese,

I am not sure how I got here except that Chris has crossed my mind from time to time. I remmeber your mother and grandmother. I had never heard Portuguese before and I ended up at Yale taking Portuguese to study colonial documents about Guinea-Bissau (Amilcar Cabral), Mocambique (Samor Machel), and Angola (Agostinho Neto). It was Chris who cam e to pay his repects when I was a junior in '79 at Yale and my father died. Sweet. Bibi, do you remember my sister Nancy? Do you remember whern yoru father's Rambler slipped its parking brake and banged into my father's car down the street? It was hilarious. My dad: Bob, I think your car hit my car. Your dad: Sorry about that Bill. Your grandmother was so sweet as was your mother. I hope I am not upsetting you with these memories.
All thes best and with love, Ashby Beal

Stilll missing Christopher....

"Hello World" That's my favorite of the notes you left me. Thanks for leaving me notes. :) Can I go back in time? Won't that be nice? It's been four long years. I'm getting old. I miss you.
The world still needs us to be kind and to love one another. Glad I was a part of your part in that. A bird is chirping at our window, must be dawn :)

I miss you always Christopher. I and we. Being excellent to each other and getting in touch online in these times of Corona Virus. Our flat is still lovely, like you. The dogwood in the window has started to bloom; birds are nesting and chirping on a sunny breezy day. The garden is planted. A new drawing season will begin. ~from your Liese

It is another year and we your friends and loved ones are finding our ways through this.
You are ever my center and thank you for your encircled friends and family. The lights are still burning and I still want to make you proud.

Hey pal. I'll always remember the good food, good music, and most of all, a friendship that is hard to find in this world. Boy are you missed.

Will

Darling of our lives You are ever missed. We conspired to inspire you and I; and I go on ever changed and made better. Thank you for your legacy in music, family and travel. I will always love you.

We love you, Christopher, and miss you every single day.

Guys, who knows how we could start a scholarship fund for a scholarship to study language and social issues like racism in Rio de Janeiro and name it after Christopher... maybe Prof Kenneth Jackson can help... he knew him at UT and he is at Yale now...,maybe some of you are connected with the alumni association and can find. out....
~Helena Wilkins Versalovic

Four weeks later and it seems impossible that you are gone. Miss you so much and feeling your spirit everywhere around us. It brings such comfort to look over these entries and see all the photographs, read the comments, and see how loved and valued you were and will always be. So very hard to accept. Please come visit me in dreams. Let's cross Vieira Souto and spend the morning on Ipanema. We'll float in the ocean and when Vovo comes to the edge of the water, fully dressed, and calls us in for lunch, we can look at each other over the waves, pretend we don't hear for a minute or two or five and keep on playing.

December 20, 2017
Dear Liese,
Christopher was the sort of person whose
life so many wanted to celebrate, there was
no way to fit all the GULC flower fund
participants on the notes with the flowers
themselves. Below are those who joined
together in the effort.
With sympathy,
Heidi Li Feldman
For:
1. Sally McCarthy
2. David Vladeck
3. Alexa Freeman
4. Daurie Simmons
5. Nan Hunter
6. Michael Goldman
7. (anonymous)
8. Donna Dickerson
9. Marilyn Raisch
10. Tim Westmoreland
11. Mara Bellino
12. Anne Nelson
13. Richard Roe
14. Sherm Cohn
15. Mitt Regan
16. John Copacino
17. Robin West
18. Maura Grant Hayes
19. Naomi Mezey
20. Alvaro Santos
21. Rachel Camp
22. Caryn Voland
23. Archana Sridhar
24. Wally Mlyniec
25. Denise Sangster
26. Phil Schrag
27. Mary Hartnett
28. Maria Glover
29. Michael Cedrone
30. Anna Selden
31. Mitos Parabot
32. Dan Ernst
33. Betsy Kuhn
34. Carlos Vazquez
35. Jarrod Reich
36. Everett Bellamy
37. Joe Page
38. Jim Feinerman
39. Tanina Rostain
40. Lillian Faulhaber
41. Aderson Francois
42. Don Wallace
43. Sarah Kinney
44. Kristin Henning
45. Ed Biko Smith
46. Mike Seidman
47. Ann Parks
48. David Luban
49. Jesse A Lambertson
50. Lynn Clemons
51. Liz Moulton
52. Maura DeMouy
53. Daniel LaMagna
54. Peter Byrne
55. Laura Addiego Próspero
56. Elizabeth Brown Weiss

Your memorial was grand and your people came out. These few signed the book. We met a hundred people who came to say goodbye and love you. We miss you

William Treanor - 4221 Oakridge Lane, Chevy Chase
James Feinerman - Bethesda MD
Julie O'Sullivan - Washington DC
Mary Hartnett - Georgetown Law
Edward Culbertson (Langley '76) Mclean, VA
Conry, Kevin - Georgetown Law
Monica Smith-Stearns, Georgetown Law
Sharon Sullivan - formerly Georgetown Law
Amy Gerhardt and Chris Howlett- Lovettsville, VA
Ann Gerhardt- Chapel Hill NC
Paul Gerhardt - Centreville, MD
Robert Labandeira - Arlington, VA
Cousin Paula Ballantyne DeSilva - Leland NC
Dr Hema de Silva - with our sympathies
Cristiane Leite - Germantown MD
Billy Southern - Arlington
Marian Schemeririg - Herndon, VA
Conrad Labandeira - Arlington
Manas Gomes - Germantown MD
J.W. Mahoney - Arlington VA
Libni Mazzo de Carvalho- Brazil Sao Paolo
Helena Carvalho - SP
Isabella Sophia Alam - Reston VA

Eu e meu amigo CJ Ballantyne no Bar Urca, viu Liese McCullough, love you!!! - Lito Cordiero

Walk in beauty forever. Lifting this family and friends to the highest heights, which, of course, he taught us through loving example to scale fearlessly.
- Renee Raymond

I can't tell you how devastating it was to hear earlier this afternoon that Christopher Ballantyne passed away this morning. Christopher was a member of our team for the past 17 years and helped define Instructional Technology at the Law Center. He always had thoughtful feedback on any of the conversations he engaged and was someone that everyone could rely and depend on. I will personally miss him and know that all of you that have worked with him are felling his loss right now.

George Petasis - Assistant Dean of Academic Technologies

I enjoyed coming to know Christopher and working with him. We are all the poorer because of his passing.

Sherman

This news breaks my heart. Christopher was one of the most interesting people in a building full of interesting people. And as others have said, enormously kind, endlessly patient, well read, crazy smart, and funny. I will miss him terribly.

This is such sad news.

The first time I met Christopher, he was reading a large volume in Italian. In the years that followed we would occasionally chat in French while he explained how to resolve various technological issues. He was a brilliant polymath and wonderful person to work with. As others have written, kind and infinitely patient -- not to mention great at his job.

We will miss him greatly.

Oh, no.
I'm so very sorry.
Last week when we did a zoom meeting his voice sounded strange, and I thought he had a very bad cold.
I'm so very sorry. He was a great guy. I loved working with him. Positive, helpful, charismatic, honest, with great ideas, open to share his knowledge and humble enough to accept suggestions from other.
This is so sad. I'm so sorry. I'm going to miss him.

The bit of time I worked with him, he was nothing short of exceptional.

Wow! I am truly sorry to hear. My prayers go out to his family. He will truly be missed.

SQB

To me, Christopher Ballantyne was a colleague of whom I marveled at his methodology and management of details.
He was not just a renaissance man nor a polyglot, though those descriptions are very accurate. I believe he was a true multiculturalist with a keen ear and eye, commingled through his deep creativity, with a willingness to communicate regardless of the language or cultural barriers.
He made my study of the very difficult Deutsch language fun and funny when we spoke. For sure he was intelligent, smart, well travelled and well read.
For sure he was learned. What stands out for me was he love of creative expression: his eye for art, his ear for music.
As a friend, I felt kindred in a deep love of Brazilian music. I remember the times at his home playing hand drums and guitars, our imagination loosen by a glass of wine (or two).
I was shocked on Friday to hear the news and will sorely miss my colleague and my friend.

Edward Biko Smith | Tier III Senior Engineer / Subject Matter Expert

GEORGETOWN LAW | [email protected]

Quando um ente querido parte para a eternidade nosso mundo fica menor.

Gratidão por sua presença em nossas vidas, Totó, você nos deixa eterna saudade.
Cada amigo representa um mundo dentro de nós, um mundo que possivelmente só nasceu quando esse amigo chegou, e é este encontro que permite o nascimento de um mundo novo." Anaïs Nin

In memory of my dear brother in law CJ Ballantyne, who I already miss so painfully. May your passionate voice and super sized talent and sweet generous spirit be raising all hell in whatever heaven is up there. I'd expect nothing less. You are one of a kind, and we all love you dearly. Rest peacefully now brother, and laugh that big laugh at us and all the fuss we make over you, but you deserve every damn word of it. Good bye for now Christopher. Love You Always, Joe

my profound sentiments, we all loved him very much, I still have the best memories of all us, together, in NY back those days. The only certain thing in life is that we are leaving. And, as for me, as I can see also got most of us he's left much love, keeness, friendship and above all humanity, so rare these days.

CHRISTOPHER GODBLESS YOU...ILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU OPENED YOUR HEART ...AND GAVE ME THE SHELTER I NEEDED WHEN I WAS LEFT IN MY LIFE ALONE FLYING OUT OF CHILE AND ARRIVED IN RIO BRASIL
AND HAD NOTHING...AND NO PLACE TO LIVE--NOT KNOWING THE LANGUAGE.YOU AND FIRST AND THEN DEAR BOB YOUR FATHER PERMITTED AND LET ME IN YOUR HOME APARTMEN GIVING ME A CHANCE FOR A WHILE AS TO RESTART MY LIFE.MAY AGAIN.I¿M STILL SO GRATEFUL...ALONG WITH MY BEAUTIFULL FAMILY AND MAUREEN MY WIFE AND ME ...THANK YOU CHRISTOPHER...GOD BE WITH YOU.

I'll miss you, Christopher. And I'll remember you like this, the two of us a couple of summers ago... RIP CJ Ballantyne

Christopher and Bibi's mother Isadora Goulart de Andrade Falcão Ballantyne

We left Rio right before this photo was taken- this is how I remember them all!

My heart is with all of our family today. Big hugs to everyone who ever loved Christopher. I have always admired your quest for social justice, sharp as a knife sense of humor, and insane knowledge of seemingly every band in the entire universe. We love you.

OMG. I just saw him this year at Gtown Law, where he ran the AV for Professor Paul Butler's inaugural address for his professorship. I can't believe this. He cared about the world and he cared about Brazil. I will miss Chris.

So long, Christopher. We'll manage without you, but it won't be the same. And yes - that was a very good day.

Chris, we're thinking about you.

He turned me on to Jerome Kern. I know every word of the Jerome Kern songbook. And I can't cut up shallots and not remember him, as he praised their glory. So many things .....

This is heartbreaking news. I have worked fairly closely with Christopher over the past year with our online LLM classes and he has always been tremendously helpful and kind and quick to find a solution to any problem. As others have mentioned, his emails were always a delight, witty and well-worded and sure to bring a smile. He was a pleasure to work with and will be sorely missed.

What a sad way to end the week. I thought Christopher was just terrific: smart, witty, patient. I can't count all the times I "double-checked" with him about audio recordings or emailed him with Echo questions, and he never seemed the least bit annoyed. Rather, he always gave me a gracious reply, usually cleverly-worded. The closest to being impatient I ever saw him was when a few of us were discussing a very complicated IT and AV set up for the national security simulation. Responding to one complex, fairly impossible suggestion, he said simply, "I'm not ready to entertain that hypothetical." I loved that.
One of a kind. I will miss him.

We will very sorely miss him. He was one of a kind.

Paul

He will be deeply missed by the people he touched and supported during his 17 years at the Law Center.

Christopher was a member of our team for the past 17 years and helped define Instructional Technology at the Law Center. He always had thoughtful feedback on any of the conversations he engaged and was someone that everyone could rely and depend on. I will personally miss him and know that all of you that have worked with him are feeling his loss right now.

You are my favorite deputy! - Woody ; Toy Story

Christopher was a Hobbit jovial, bright and interested in life's simple pleasures. His wit and passion for what he loved made it easy to be his friend.

Many fond memories of Christopher...Times when we had conversations discussing the affairs of the world. I will miss him.

Shocked.. so shocked, I was stunned to hear about Chris. He was so warm and funny. He helped me out at work so I could use our technology resources. Always responsive to my questions. I'm going to miss seeing him around campus so much. He was a common sight walking with Edouardo.

I'll always remember Christopher's dry sense of humor and his cosmopolitan sensibilities. We discussed many things - and had some common bonds - Yale, music (listening mostly in my car) and Iberian culture. He was so quietly erudite I don't know how many of his colleagues at Georgetown know of his many accomplishments. It was a delight to know him, and conversing with him was a great pleasure which will be much missed.

He was brilliant and challenging. My little promise to self is to carry an aspect of Christopher with me everywhere. We were like two sides of a coin. I see more clearly now. Just like his poem, the one he liked so well he had to rewrite it from Danish into English for the rest of us.

Chris was a rare and special person

Beloved and deeply missed

Christopher touched us all with his talent and sense of humor.

Exchanging pleasantries in Portugese with Chris would make my day less daily. I'll miss him deeply

I love working with Chris so much!

Who better than Chris mastered technology and supported people? He was our navigator in a landscape of machines.

I don't think I'll ever encounter a more erudite and loquacious IT person. Chris was a true Renaissance man. And unflappably helpful and kind.

From the many co-workers who Christopher helped, taught, and gladdened. We are lucky to know him, and we will miss him. With deepest sympathy from the IST Team - Georgetown University Law Center

Our deepest sympathy. - Uncle Bill and Aunt Lygia

Dear Liese,


Lygia and I send our sympathy at the loss of dear Christopher and our thanks and appreciation for the loving support you gave him, throughout your life together but especially during the last difficult weeks. Bob described you as an angel.


I first met Christopher when he was a very cute, choirboy type around 8 years old. I saw him vey often during every phase of his life. The happiest phase by far was his time with you.


Lygia and I remember with pleasure your short visit here with Christopher. Our traveling days are about over, so we may not get back to the DC area. But you will always be a member of the Ballantyne family, and thus also part of Uncle Bill and Aunt Lygia Ellis' family.


You can take comfort in the fact that you did your utmost for Christopher in good times and bad. God give you peace in the trying days ahead.


Love, Lygia and Bill

Uncle Bill and Aunt Lygia Ellis

I knew the feeling of home for the while we were together. -Liese

So sad to hear of Christopher's passing. He was a lover of life, and so brilliant, in so many ways. I send my sincerest condolences to his family. He will truly be missed by many.

You left us much too soon, friend. You are already missed, brother.

May God bless you and your family in this time of sorrow.

Dear one, I've been talking to everyone since that worst day, 15 Dec. I remembered we were better together than apart so if my own wish is to become a part you

May loving memories, love from family friends surround you during this very sorrowful time. God's words will comfort, strengthen and give you peace to endure the difficult days ahead (Isa. 41:10).

Hugs and love from your father and mother.

May god's loving kindness comfort you and help you through this sad and difficult time. Psalms 119 : 50,76 EJC. GA.

My condolences to the family. May the peace of God and the fond memories you cherish comfort and sustain you in your time of need.
-RM