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Friends tearfully remember three men who died in house fire
Friends tearfully remember three men who died in house fire
The sight of eight eagles circling in the sky above an East Vancouver church Saturday brought tears to the eyes of many attending a memorial service for three friends who died together in a holiday house fire.
Dwayne Rasmussen, Garland McKay and Steve Yellowquill died Dec. 22 when their shared bedroom, a covered porch at a packed flophouse on Pandora Street, burst into flames.
As housing advocates spoke to media about the need for a public inquest investigating the tragedy, the eagles soared unheeded, until a man pointed to the sky and everyone paused to watch.
The service that followed in the church was simple and meaningful — a series of heartfelt tributes to three men who looked out for each other and anyone else they encountered on the street.
“I got [drunk] once and they put me in a shopping cart and pushed me home,” recalled one man, as people chuckled.
Another woman said a memorial bench should be placed near a cedar tree where the men sometimes gathered.
“To me, they were like spring,” she said. “They could always make me laugh.”
After singing Amazing Grace, the men’s pastor Barry Morris encouraged friends to share memories about each man.
Rasmussen, who was cremated and will eventually be laid to rest in Mount Currie, was remembered as a small man with the “heart of a giant” who gave comfort and hugs easily. His childhood friend Ray Charlie said that when he graduated from high school, Rasmussen, who was living in Vancouver, hitchhiked to Mount Currie to attend his graduation.
“He really wanted to be there for me,” he said.
The grandmother of Rasmussen’s son said he was an “outstanding” father, then shared a memory of Rasmussen carrying the little boy on his back through the rain, the child holding onto his hair.
McKay, who will eventually be buried next to his parents in Kelowna, was a polite and sensitive man, who helped clean a friend’s home when she was sick.
“He helped me move,” said another friend. “We had to bring a rabbit to the SPCA and Garland cried ... He wanted to keep the rabbit himself, but he knew he couldn’t.”
Yellowquill, who was buried in Surrey last week, was intelligent and humble. Originally from Manitoba, friends said he attended university in his younger days. He also suffered from health problems and recently lived with his mother, but returned to the Pandora house because he considered the people there family.
Pastor Morris said Joseph Barker, who was seriously injured in the fire, is still recovering in hospital and had his first meal since the ordeal two days ago.
Including the victims, nine men lived in the Pandora Street house, which, according to the City of Vancouver, had a history of safety issues, including electrical problems.
Housing advocate Rider Cooey with Citywide Housing Coalition said he hoped the deaths would draw attention to the city’s shortage of low-income housing.
“Although the fire was caused by faulty wiring, the deaths were caused because those people were living and sleeping on a back porch,” he said. |
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發表於 2011-1-9 07:44
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