Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 22, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba For Freda you could argue life a snot been full of Breaks. She lost her eyesight in a residential school As a result of detached Retinas and then lost her daughter to murder. She does not like talking about her painful past because Sheds dealt with it and is Over being a victim. The family who describe themselves As working impoverished said they could move into newer subsidized housing but they refuse to accept social assistance As Long As they Are Able to support themselves. They never had much but were proud that what they did own they had worked for. Unfortunately they afford fire insurance on their belongings. Something about the spirit of this family wanting to help themselves struck a chord with Winni Eggers who wanted to help them. Now thanks to every ones generosity the couple with an adopted granddaughter will have a merry Christmas. Hendrika Kennedy donated $ 500 to the family through the salvation a mys fire victim program. I know what it is to be hungry and losing your Home with everything in it said Kennedy 81. She was born in the Netherlands and lived through the depression in the 1930s, then the nazi invasion. Others had furniture they donated. A local company sponsored the Munroe family this Christmas delivering food and gifts to their new rental Home. While its too late to sponsor a family this Christmas the salvation a mys fire victims program can always use donations of furniture kitchenware you name it. For All the Fredas and Johns the Public reaches out to help there Are dozens of fire victims struggling to get Back on their feet who dont receive Media attention said salvation army capt. Robert Russell. John Munroe is still dealing with the fallout from the fire weeks after the family got a helping hand. You end up with nothing but what youve got on he said. You dont realize what you lost till you Start needing things he said. He was looking for a tool to do a chore around the House when he realized the tools were lost in the fire. Freda is having some trouble learning her Way around the new place he said. Sheds bumping into everything. She gets lost going to the Kitchen he joked. They re grateful for the help they ave received John said before quickly adding that they were paying their own Way five Days after the fire. Itell be of. Weave had lots of christmases of having nothing. Were used to doing without. This Christmas the Murroes have a sense of abundance. Were doing pretty Good. Carol. Sanders free press. My. Ca i t hit Home with me when the Home Safe Bell rang three times. In that packed cavernous Church the slow deliberate tolling of the brass Bell made me and probably Many others shudder at its lonely sound. Then came the words ceremonial for sure but also steeped in meaning As old As the profession itself. The fire is out. The smoke is cleared pastor Mark Young said to a hushed congregation of about 1,000 people at North Kildonan mennonite Brethren Church. Firefighter Harold Lessard 10 6, the pastor said using the language that indicates a firefighters Mission is Complete that he is Back in the station and ready for duty. With that capt. Less Ards funeral service ended. He was killed four Days earlier on feb. 4, alongside capt. Tom Nichols in a House fire in St. Boniface. Ive covered lots of funerals but none like this. I keep the pamphlet that was handed out at less Ards service on a bulletin Board in my office As a reminder of that Day it a snot just another Story it was much More and will always be. Lessard was one of Many firefighters called to a burning House on one of the coldest Days of the year. Lessard Nichols and other firefighters on the scene went inside the House even though the Only two occupants Safe outside told them there was nobody else inside. The firefighters had to make certain. They went in not realizing the fire was far worse than anyone imagined. When they got to the second floor it erupted into an inferno the heat and flames hidden in the Walls and floor joists exploding in whats defined As a Black fire. Lessard and Nichols were trapped inside. Firefighters de Wiebe and Lionel Crowther escaped with serious Burn injuries. Crowther returned to work nov. 13. Wiebe is still recovering. Scott Atchison and Darcy Funk also escaped with minor injuries. Less Ards and Nichols funerals and the Public memorial service at the its Centre brought Home to canadians How perilous the Job of firefighting can be even in an age of smoke alarms and ceiling sprinklers. I a vent had a lot of Contact with firefighters other than talking to them at fire scenes. For me firefighters were the folks in the stations who played cards compared Chili recipes and got to ride around in big red trucks. I always thought that firefighters lived and worked in their own Little world with their own Little customs and language. That changed feb. 4. I had to learn through this tragedy that people like Lessard and Nichols play a bigger role in the Community than i imagined. Which is Why i keep the funeral pamphlet on my Wall so i dont Ever take them for granted again. Bruce. Owen free press. My. Ca a6 saturday special Winnipeg repress. Com Winnipeg free press saturday december 22, 2007 hard Luck couple count their blessings r member the Story about the couple who lost everything in a House fire but their dignity their granddaughter and their dog Well Freda and John Munroe Christina and their Bichon Frise Benji Are in a better place literally. They found a Safe rental Home closer to Johns Job at red River College. We should ave been Here years and years ago laughed John who rescued his dog but was unable to save his size 15, 7e shoes from the Gallagher Street fire nov. 22. His wife Freda who is almost totally Blind smelled smoke and woke him up Early that cold morning. The granddaughter they re raising had spent the night with her aunt. They escaped with their lives and counted their blessings. Carol Sanders Bruce Owen Joe Bryksa / Winnipeg free press Freda and John Munroe look on the Bright Side after a House fire last month. Were doing pretty Good a says John. A soldiers funeral in Small town Manitoba i was in a spontaneous procession of vehicles moving slowly along Highway 3a, cars and vans and pickup trucks of mourners heading Back from Clearwater to Crystal City and Pilot Mound. Off to the left past an idyllic Meadow of grazing cows atop a Small Hill tiny figures walked slowly Lane Watkins family taking him to his grave. It was july 16 and hot but i wore a suit that Day i grew up in a time when you wore a suit to a funeral. Pet. Lane Watkins was Only 20 when he and five other soldiers died in a Roadside explosion in Afghanistan and less than two weeks later it seemed that 10 times the population of the 85 person Hamlet of Clearwater where Lane Watkins grew up had come to say goodbye. His Mother Wanda read a Brief statement to the Media who clustered about 200 metres from the tent where the memorial service was held in the Community yes Ballpark. I dont know How she could do that. I dont know what it took for Wanda Watkins to get through that morning and i never want to know but i kept thinking of my own 19 year old son As i watched hundreds of people gather in the Ballpark where Lane Watkins spent his youth. The juxtaposition of images stayed with me. Watkins casket was carried by Soldier pallbearers past the Ball diamonds where he played throughout his life. A military funeral party in dress uniform marched with precision across the Outfield grass. A solemn military padre slowly walked past a Curling rink and bleachers to a silent cadence his dress uniform visible below his White Robes. There were veterans in legion blazers Young Guys wearing the hockey team Jersey Watkins wore not so Long ago and hundreds of people parking outside the surprisingly massive sports Complex. They walked sadly quietly past the Curling rink Community Hall and Ball diamonds to a huge open air tent. Walking behind his casket were Lane Watkins grieving parents Wanda and Charles his twin brother Leigh and other brother Andrew surrounded by relatives and friends. There was his brother in arms pet. Dustin Zonnenberg who stayed with his close Friend All the Way Home from the base in Kandahar to the graveside just outside town. The Watkins family had planned a private funeral but decided to allow limited Media Access and a Small military presence after seeing the thousands of people who gathered in Southern Ontario the week before to pay tribute to the six fallen soldiers As they arrived Home in Canada. The family allowed Media to stay in one Small area of the Park Well away from the funeral service and on condition that they refrained from interviewing mourners. There Are people who will Tell you that if we dont blindly and unquestioningly support government policy then we Are failing these Young men and women. This is How one tiny Manitoba Community said goodbye to one of its own dead far too Young on the far Side of the world. Nick. Martin free press. My. Ca ill never look at firefighters the same Nick Martin stories that moved us As reporters we see All aspects of the human condition in our Days work. We stay objective and keep ourselves outside the Story. But occasionally we come across a Story that touches us More than the others. These Are some we encountered in 2007. John Woods / Winnipeg free press archives Wanda Watkins follows behind her songs coffin ;