op local
Holiday S y Season
Your news this week: Inconsistencies mar historic event - 2 Support community-minded businesses -3 AIHA has agreement with S Koreans - 8 Transparency suffers locally - 4
Proud to be an Independent CANADIAN Publication
FREE
Vol. 20, No. 3, Wednesday, November 27, 2024 www.LamontLeader.com
Time capsule planned for 65th anniversary of Chipman Lamont 1960 bus train accident BY JANA SEMENIUK Members of the memorial committee for the 1960 Chipman Lamont bus train accident gathered for their annual remembrance of the victims at the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist in Chipman Nov. 24. Chairman of the committee, Tom Hrehorets, thanked people for coming and spoke about plans for a time capsule to coincide with the accident’s 65th anniversary next year. “What we're working on is a time capsule to commemorate that 65th anniversary,” Hrehorets told the crowd at the church. “We can have the time capsule put in next year on the 65th anniversary and that time capsule will be opened on the 100th year.” On Nov. 29, 1960 a loaded school bus was struck by an oncoming freight train at 8:55 a.m. killing 17 high school students bound for Lamont High that morning and injuring 24 others. The 100th year of the accident will be Nov. 29, 2060. Members of the memorial committee include survivor John Winnick and his wife Jeanette, survivor Tom Cossey and his wife Dianne, in addition to local caterer and committee chairman Tom Hrehorets and local historian and secretary treasurer, Trudy Harrold. Another survivor, Ellen Sledz, was also an active member of the group before she passed away in 2022. Hrehorets was instrumental in spearheading the effort in 2021 to fundraise and erect two identical stone monuments honouring the 17 victims, 15 girls and two boys, who ranged in age from 15-18 years old. While the accident happened in Lamont, all the victims were from Chipman. The memorial group eventu-
ally collected more than $95,000 in donations within seven months. Hrehorets said the idea for the time capsule came from former Chipman resident Steven P. Eleniak, 93, who was also a member of the now dissolved Chipman historical society. Hrehorets said anyone wishing to contribute any items for the time capsule, such as photographs, letters or other paraphernalia, can reach any member of the memorial committee to make arrangements. Hrehorets said the time capsule will be buried behind the accident victim’s monument in Lamont.
Chipman Lamont Bus Train Memorial committee members stand in Chipman with one of two stone monuments commemorating the devastating accident in 1960 that took 17 young lives. L-R: Tom Hrehorets, John Winnick, Jeanette Winnick, Dianne Cossey and Tom Cossey. Photo: Trudy Smith
Time capsule expert burying his last capsule BY JANA SEMENIUK Former Chipman resident, Steven P. Eleniak, 93, will be assisting the Chipman Lamont Bus Train Memorial Committee in coordinating a time capsule, commemorating the 1960 tragedy, to be opened on the 100th anniversary of the crash on Nov. 29, 2060. Eleniak has helped to bury 18 time capsules for various schools and organizations over the past 70 years and he said Lamont’s burial next year will be his last. “I’m going to be retired, I’m not going to do it anymore,” he said. Eleniak never set out to be the time capsule expert. He said it just happened. “I have no competition,” he said laughing. “That’s why I’m the expert. There’s nobody else.” Eleniak said he’s motivated by preserving history and, from the 18 time caspules he has so far helped to bury, been present for five of the openings. “It’s the preservation of a memory,
basically,” he said. “I get self satisfaction from seeing the people and families happy (about it).” Eleniak first assisted with one for a small rural school in Peace River in the early 50s. He attended a school board meeting where the teacher proudly shared that she would have 38 graduating students that year and wanted to find a way to recognize the event. “Apparently 38 was a pretty big number for Peace River and I said you should have the (students) write a letter to themselves, and we'll put it in a time capsule,” he said. “I said it more or less as a passing thought.” The teacher thought it was a terrific idea. After organizing the packing of a special box made by a local tin smith, with all the letters inside that the students wrote to their future selves, the box was buried in the North East corner of the school grounds, wrapped in tar paper. Twenty-four years later, Eleniak got a phone call from someone
in Peace River who was preparing to shred old school records. “She said she was destroying old school records and found my calling card with ‘time capsule’ written on it,” he said. After Eleniak told her the story, the woman became excited to find the capsule. Problem was, most of the school officials who were a part of the time capsule burial had since died and the school itself had been moved and was now being used as a granary. Eleniak offered to come and help her try to find it anyway. “(The woman) was new to the area (and) didn’t know where it was. There is no sign of the school, there is no sign of the trees. There's no sign of anything (familiar),” said Eleniak. Finally, after driving around, he thought he might have recognized the corner of the former school grounds and decided to call in some help; a friend with a magnetometer. Continued on Page 6