Notes
Book Project Context
- Session focused on Grandpa John’s accident stories for his memoir
- Stories already covered: meeting Grandma in Paraguay, coming to Canada
- Three major accidents identified: 1986 farm accident, Rosedale construction fall, 2014 car crash
Dairy Farm Years (1985-1990)
- Quit construction in 1985 to help sister run her dairy farm in Greendale after her husband died
- Farmed for 5.5 years; enjoyed the work but realized he was not an “animal person”
- Sister remarried: new husband was dismissive, incompetent, and
unhygienic on the farm
- John had run the farm for five years; new husband arrived and acted like he knew everything
- After five months, John developed an ulcer and quit
- Ulcer disappeared once he left; returned to construction
1986 Farm Accident
- Preparing silage wagon for corn harvest (44 acres to cut); reached over the shield to check for nipples while beaters were running
- High boot caught on a long tooth, pulled him into the conveyor belt
up to his waist
- Two other men in similar accidents were killed instantly
- Saved by a safety wire stretched across the top of the shield: arm
flew up, hit the wire, machine stopped
- Stuck upside down in the machine for nearly an hour
- Steel bar pierced his stomach; leg broken by one of the teeth; nerve damage to ankle (still visible)
- Sister found him; tractor still running
- Hospitalized for over three weeks
Rosedale Construction Fall
- Fell 8 feet while installing floor dressing in a house; the fall itself caused no injury
- A 12-foot 2x10 plank came down and struck him in the head
- Helper kept him calm; air ambulance called
- Went into a coma at ~11am; came around at ~6pm (7 hours)
- Doctor called Grandma during the coma to say he would not survive
- Woke up unable to open one eye; asked Grandma where he was, had no memory of the accident
- Injuries: broken cheekbone, steel plate and four long screws
inserted by lifting his face
- “I’m a bionic man”
- Hospitalized for over two weeks
2014 Car Accident (69th Birthday)
- Rear-ended on Highway 16 near Whiterock while stopped in a
single-lane construction zone
- Driving to pick up dentures; a 3-ton truck hit him from behind at full speed
- Seat snapped off; rear window shattered; truck shifted sideways, door jammed
- Truck driver admitted 100% fault to police; believed to have been distracted by his phone
- Injuries: two bulged discs, chronic back pain
- Silver lining: replacement insurance expired that night; got a brand-new truck
- Lady in the car directly in front had her vehicle totaled; appeared to have a serious headache despite initially saying she was fine
Next Steps
- Record remaining memoir stories with Grandpa
- Still to cover: meeting Grandma in Paraguay and coming to Canada.
Transcript
Speaker AYeah. It seems like whenever I get up, everything hurts. These days, that's part that's not very fun. When getting old, everything hurts. This one bricklayer, years ago, he said before he was 50, all the joints were flexible except one. After he said he turned 50, all the joints were stiff except one. You get it? I get it. I get it.
Speaker BDo you get it?
Speaker AI don't think he get it. That's okay. He's too young to know about it. What's your dad's age? And then you can know about what it's all about. Then ask dad. Dad. What? Was that what Grandpa said? Maybe he will remember, maybe not.
Speaker BWe'll see.
Speaker ABut I tell you what, if he doesn't tell you, you phone me out.
Speaker BDeal.
Speaker CWhat's your favorite airport? What's your favorite airport?
Speaker AVancouver. San Francisco. Puerto Vallart. I fly to Puerto Vallarta. Los Cabos, Cancun.
Speaker COh, Cancun.
Speaker AMezzaland.
Speaker CThat's so cool.
Speaker AMezzan is a smaller airport. There's also Las Cabos too. They're not very busy. Do you like flying?
Speaker CI love flying.
Speaker ALove flying. Yeah, I do too. I love, love flying.
Speaker CIt's so cool.
Speaker ASo what are you going to do when you grow up? Are you going to be a pilot or policeman?
Speaker CI'm trying to. I'm going to try to make me into the mlb.
Speaker AAs what?
Speaker CThe mlb. Major League Baseball.
Speaker AOh, yeah. Oh, I see. Okay.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AWhat about if you don't? What? What? Then what?
Speaker CI. I forgot I was going to do something. I don't know. I forgot.
Speaker AYou don't know yet? Yeah. That's okay.
Speaker CThere is this one thing that I forgot that I might actually.
Speaker ASo how are you doing in school? Good. Yeah?
Speaker CYeah, I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker ASo what grade are you now?
Speaker CI'm going into grade six.
Speaker AYou're going into grade six, huh?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AI see.
Speaker CYeah. I was going into grade eight.
Speaker ADo you like your teachers?
Speaker CI do. I did. I have this one teacher that I really didn't like. That's why I moved.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker CSo, yeah. But yeah, my teachers are mostly.
Speaker AWhat does he mean or what? Why didn't you like him?
Speaker CWell, she was really.
Speaker AOh, that's a her? It's a she?
Speaker CYeah, she was in the middle of a test. She started going around and showing pictures of her dog and made basically like, made everyone look kind of. And then she brings her dogs to school.
Speaker AShe has a dog?
Speaker CYeah, she has two dogs and they're very annoying.
Speaker AOh, my goodness.
Speaker CSo they bring her dogs to school. And it's. I can't.
Speaker ASo they're allowed to bring a dog to school? Yeah.
Speaker CYep. So it's really annoying. And then one time we took this test and she gave us. We were getting ready. It was almost. It was one minute until recess. So she's like, ask. She said the question. She's like, okay, what's this? This, this? And then. Then gave us five seconds and then went on to the next one. And Almost everybody got two out of 10 answers, right? Because most of. The. Most of the questions they couldn't even write down. There were no time. She gave us no time to actually write it down. And then she had us turn it in. And also she kind of like pushed me a little bit and. Yeah, she just wasn't like a good teacher.
Speaker BIt's not.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo, Grandpa, what other stories do you want in your book? We talked about meeting grandma in Paraguay, coming to Canada. We should talk about your accidents more. We talked about it a little bit yesterday, but I'd love to know those stories.
Speaker AYeah,
Speaker Bbecause you've had three, right? Three big ones.
Speaker AYeah. Yep. 1986, car crashes. Just listen. 1986, I had a farm accident and machine and silent wagon.
Speaker BYeah. So you were working on.
Speaker AI was working for my sister in a dairy farm that time.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker ASee, my sister lost her husband in an accident. They were dairy farming. And I had always talked about. I would love to. The dairy farm. And when he died, she said, john, you always are interested in dairy farm. You want to jump on the boat and come along? So that's what I did. I quit. It was 1985, quit construction. So I went and helped the farm for five and a half years. Okay.
Speaker BAnd where were they farming?
Speaker AIn Greendale. Greendale? Yeah. So after five and a half. Well, what happened is she got remarried. That guy, he was. He thought he knew everything and he didn't know nothing. He was the kind of guy, he ran away from home when he was 14 and he all over place. He couldn't just. He couldn't keep a job. So that's the kind of guy he married. Okay. And he came now onto the farm and pretend he could run the farm. And he didn't know nothing. And he treated me like, oh, you don't know nothing. He didn't know nothing. After five months, I had an ulcer. That's all. Grinded me and. Well, I ran the farm now for five years. Now he's come and tell me how to run things. Yeah. He didn't have a clue. Another example in the Office. We had to rule in office. Nobody walked in with shitty boots. He would walk, boots full of shit up to here. He walked in the office there and on the milk, the tank and everything. He was a dirty pig. So after five months, I helped out. One day I realized I had an ulcer. I said to grandma, I have an ulcer and I know what to do. I won't see a doctor. I'm just quitting my job now. Another thing was, I am not an animal friend. Yeah. And if you are not an animal friend, don't try to dare farm.
Speaker BSure.
Speaker AYou have to be an animal friend. Yeah, like animals. Okay. And so I realized that I just quit and my ultra disappeared and went back into construction.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AYep. So it looks pretty tough when you come. Somebody comes in and all of a sudden he thinks he knows everything, doesn't know nothing. No, that was it. No, I stayed. I stayed in construction, you know, as I said, I did my last job just before Christmas. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker BSo you worked for your sister for
Speaker Aabout five and a half years. Five and a half years, yeah. Okay.
Speaker BAnd then how did the accident happen? Like, I know you told me a little bit yesterday.
Speaker AYeah. Well, it was like we were just about ready to cutting corn. Okay. We had 44 acres of corn to cut.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker ALike silage corn. And it was on a Tuesday. On a Tuesday morning, 10 o', clock, I was getting ready, you know, making sure everything was greased and getting ready for. In a couple of days, we were starting cutting corn.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AAnd I did something that was very stupid. Should have never done it. Most of the accidents that you have, you could avoid.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker AAnd then I admit this is something that was stupid. I should have never done. See, the. The silage wagon has a conveyor belt on front. And there, here the beakers going. And I went over the shield into that looking for nipples. And I have things going here. These beaters turn, you know, and. And I had high shoes on and one of those long teeth cut my shoe and pulled me right in.
Speaker BSo just sucked you in?
Speaker ASucked me right in. I know two other guys that got sucked and they got demolished and dead right away.
Speaker BReally.
Speaker AI was. What happened? What saved me? We had on top of the shield, there was a wire going across. They call it the safety wire.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AIf you touch that wire, the whole equipment stops. So I was lucky, I guess. The Lord pulled my arm up rather than pulling it. Threw my arm up, hit that wire and everything stopped. But I was in up to here. Had one. One of those steel Bars sticking in my stomach here. And one was ready to go in here, one here, so. And I was stuck there for. Upside down. Yeah, for almost an hour, so.
Speaker BAnd you had kids at this point? You had kids already at this point?
Speaker AOh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're four kids. Four kids already, yeah.
Speaker BThat's crazy.
Speaker AYeah. So I was very fortunate that I came out there safe, so. And I spent over three weeks in hospital. Oh, you see, this is from. This is from that accident.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASee, one of those still, those have long teeth still. But went into here and had this, pull this down, stuck right to my ankle, you know. So, like this here is all dead. The nerves are all gone. Yeah, yeah. So that's. Then of course, a couple of places a leg was broken here because one of those teeth I had broken broke my leg. Okay. Wow. No, I was very fortunate. I came out there alive. And as I told you yesterday, you know, I. I have experienced a couple of miracles, you know. Yeah. So now I got out. What now? And I got out of that conveyor belt and fell down to the ground. And I tried to move, but I couldn't move anymore. Then as I say, as I told you yesterday, my sister, all of a sudden, she came and found me there. The tractor and the equipment was still running, you know, and so. And here I am, New York. Then the second accident. What happened is I was putting floor dresser in Rosedale in the house and I fell 8ft, cut down onto the ground and onto the sand. The fall didn't hurt, didn't bother me, but there was a 12 foot 2 by 10 came behind me and smacked
Speaker Bme in the head.
Speaker AThat's what we think. I really don't know. And all I know is that I was there and my helper, apparently I tried to get up, I couldn't get up. And I remember my helper said, be relaxed, John, help us in a way get called the paramedics and all that. So the next thing I remember is that the paramedics were working on me. They were in the basement there. And the one guy said to the other one, where are we taking him? And the other guy said, air ambulances on the way. Well, where is he going land? And the last I heard is real deal when we are. All right, we have a murder. That's the last.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AThe next thing that's 11 o' clock in the morning.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AThe next time I was came over
Speaker Bsix o' clock the same day. Okay.
Speaker AIt was just seven hours in a coma. Yeah.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AGrandma there, I don't Know who was all there? A bunch of people are there, first thing they see this. I couldn't open this old school, like this blue. Yeah. But that's why I could open first thing. Ask grandma, where am I? She said, you're in the hospital. In the hospital? Why? We had an accident. I couldn't remember anything. I spent over two weeks in hospital there. And then they have to see his bone here was broken. So they have to lift my whole face up to. To put a plate in there. I'm like a bionic man.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AI got four long screws in there. I got one screw sitting in here and I got a steel plate in here.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AYou can tell people your grandpa is a bionic man. A robot. Yeah.
Speaker BSo you must have gotten hit in the face and something like that.
Speaker AWell, that two by ten we all figured the two by ten apparently had laying on me, you know. Okay. Kept me in my.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker AYeah. Yeah. Very lucky. Very lucky. That didn't. Well then at 3 o' clock they had phoned Grandma, the doctor had phoned grandma from Royal Common Hospital that said that you won't talk to your husband anymore. You're not gonna make it. Here you are.
Speaker BWe made it.
Speaker AYep. Not a miracle happened there. Yeah. Nana 2014, when I had a big automobile accident. You know that too. I could have been killed there.
Speaker BSo how did that one happen? You were just driving?
Speaker AYeah. No, we were. I was on the way to Whitera, picking my dentures up.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AIt was already after lunch and we were driving there and I said there were signs that said be prepared. Single lane. BC Hydra was working on a line. I was on 16 down. You're close to Whitelock. Okay. And here we came. And all of a sudden there was a van and a car in front of me. We all stopped him. We had to stop first in the lane. This truck, he was behind me. It was a big truck, three ton truck. Okay. And I guess he didn't pay attention. And weeks I just. He just said, stop. Bang. Big crash. Big, big crunch.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo that's my seat snapped. My seat snapped off. My window at the back was all gone. And see what. He hit me a little bit sideways. My truck had shifted like this. I couldn't open my door. Yeah. So that was a radar for. Anyway, so. Yep, here I am.
Speaker BWow.
Speaker ANow I'm waiting for another miracle.
Speaker BSo did they have to cut you out of the truck then?
Speaker ANo, no, they could open the. The right door went open again.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker ABut I had to sit and wait till the ambulance were There? Yeah, yeah, the beach. The other guy was right away there and said, are you okay, sir? I don't know. Haven't got a clue. He said, don't move. They don't want you to move till the paramedics are there.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ALucky enough, there were paramedics on the way from White Rock to on the way tablets for they were there right away. So I spent five hours on hospital gut. They took me to the hospital right away and did a lot of X rays and all that.
Speaker CDid you have any injuries? Did you have any injuries?
Speaker BLike were you hurt from that one?
Speaker AWell, yeah, I got a real bad back. A couple of bulged discs. Yeah. Okay. The good thing, what came out of that was this happened on my 69th birthday. It was on a Thursday. And next day I go to insurance to report. Insurance. The lady said, guess what? You're going to shop for a new truck. What? Yeah. You have replacement insurance that runs off tonight. Wow.
Speaker BGot a new truck out of it.
Speaker AYeah, got a new truck out of it.
Speaker CIt wasn't your fault. So you. It wasn't your fault.
Speaker ANo. It doesn't matter if it was my fault or not. You have the insurance. Okay.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AOh, no. They. The truck driver had to admit right away to the police that he was 100% fault. Oh, good. Yeah. Oh, yeah, the police told me that he said that the driver admitted that he was 100% fault.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AI don't know why he slammed into us. Well, the paramedic stop. Figured he was on the phone distracted. Yeah. He didn't pay attention, so whatever. Doesn't matter to me.
Speaker BWere the people in front of you hurt?
Speaker ADo you know the one lady. I don't remember the lady right in front of me what crawled out of the car there.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AShe said she was okay. She had a scratched neck. But by the time we were done with the paramedics there, she had a terrible headache. I don't think she was okay, you know, can you imagine? Yeah, My. My front end was in her trunk. Right. So right away when we. The whole thing was stopped at the fair. Oh, no, there'd be somebody going to be killed there. And then I saw a lady. She crawled over her car, you know, so the front. And the lady in front was in a van. I can't remember anymore if she was hurt or not.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ASo that was not too bad. I think that was. But her car was this lady in front of me. Her car was totaled. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Good Lord. Good Lord. Didn't want me.
Speaker BNot yet.
Speaker ANo. He knew I had a great grandson coming up and I was supposed to spend time with him. Give him a rough time. Exactly. Oh, I think you should go and have a nap.
Speaker BTired.
Speaker AThat's what. That's what Grandpa's going. I'm going to have a good nap. You know where Grandpa does most times nap, right? And that's over there. You nap most of the times? I have my nap there.
Speaker COh, that's cute.
Speaker BWhen do you usually nap?