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Vol. 16, No. 23, Wednesday, May 5, 2021 www.LamontLeader.com
Monument for bus crash victims to be studied by Lamont Parks and Rec. 8’ x 5’ monument near the crash site proposed to honour victims and 17 children killed BY JANA SEMENIUK A request for permission, by the Chipman and Lamont Bus/Train Memorial Committee to erect a permanent monument honouring the victims of the 1960 bus accident has been received by Lamont Town Council and referred to the Parks and Recreation Committee for consideration during their Apr. 27 council meeting. The memorial committee is hoping for permission to install an eight by five-foot monument near the crash site. “Under the guidance of Tom Hrehorets as Chairman, a committee has been formed to look into the possibility of erecting a memorial to honour the 17 young people who lost their lives in the tragedy and the survivors who have lived on to carry those memories,” stated Memorial Committee Treasurer Trudy Harrold in the letter. “It has been suggested that this memorial be erected in conjunction with the Queen’s monument east of Tom Hrehorets’ current office building along the railway.” Lamont’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Dawn Neilson, explained that the request for a monument has been made before. “This item is something the Parks and Recreation Committee has considered and discussed a few times in the past and it just never came to fruition,” she said. “So, our recommendation is to bring it back to the Parks and Recreation Committee and for them to bring a recommendation back to council.” Hrehorets, who runs the Hrehorets Bus Company in Lamont, has long been an advocate for having a monument erected. “For years I thought there was already a monument there. Then I went
“Deep in my heart I feel it’s something that needs to be done,” - Tom Hrehorets Chairman of the Chipman and Lamont Bus/Train Memorial Committee Tom Hrehorets, shows plans for a permanent monument to honour the 17 killed and surviving victims of the Nov. 29, 1960 bus-train accident. The memorial will carry the pictures and names of all 17 killed as well as the 25 survivors of the accident, including the bus driver Frank Budney. Photo: Jana Semeniuk to have a look at it one day and realized it was for the Queen’s visit in 1978 and not the bus crash,” he said. “Deep in my heart I feel it’s something that needs to be done.” Hrehorets added that he was astounded by the attention the Humboldt bus crash received in comparison to the Lamont bus accident. “What happened in Humboldt was a horrible tragedy, no question. People will never forget what happened
there,” he said. “But there are a lot of people who live here now and have no idea that the 1960 bus accident even happened.” A school bus, carrying 42 students, crossed the railway tracks into Lamont on the morning of Nov. 29, 1960 passing directly in front of an oncoming train killing 17 of the students aged 14 – 18. Two boys and 15 girls passed away in the tragedy. “It’s been nearly 61 years and I’ve
been here for 30 years. There should have been something to remember them. As the years are going on people are forgetting,” said Hrehorets. Three of the nine-members on the memorial committee are also survivors of the accident. “Ellen Sledge, John Winnick and Terry Cossey are three of our members who are also survivors of the accident,” said Hrehorets. He added that the committee was hoping to have the monument up late this summer. “We just need approval to put the monument up along the tracks,” he said. “We wanted to have it up by August, before harvest. If not, we will have to wait until November.” While Hrehorets was too young to remember the tragedy when it happened, his father reminded him of the accident as a warning while he was a young boy. “I wanted to be a bus driver my whole life,” he said. “My father used to say to me ‘why do you want to be a bus driver? Don’t you know about all of those kids that got killed?’” Although plans for the monument are well underway, Hrehorets said fundraising has been a little slow. “We have so far raised about $3,500 and the monument will cost about $25,000,” he said. The permanent monument will be made with a mixture of granite and marble standing five feet tall and eight feet wide. The memorial will carry the pictures and names of all 17 victims as well as the names of the 25 survivors of the accident, including the bus driver Frank Budney who survived the accident and passed away last June at the age of 90.