Edmonton Journal

Rural family leans on faith two years after fatal accident

- CHRIS NELSON

It began as a beautiful, joyous day — bringing in that first, vital crop of canola, back on Oct. 13, 2015.

It would end in a dreadful tragedy that shook the central Alberta farming community to its core, claiming the lives of three young sisters.

For a typical farming family, such as the Botts, harvest time is exciting for everyone, and sisters Catie, 13, and 11-year-old twins Dara and Jana, were no exception.

So when their dad, Roger Bott, returned from the family fields in the hamlet of Withrow, near Rocky Mountain House, 215 km southwest of Edmonton, with a full load of canola — the first cash crop of the season, as farmers call it — they could hardly wait to watch the grain flowing out of the trailer.

The three girls climbed onto the back of the vehicle to watch the canola drain down out of the second of the two, fully filled compartmen­ts into the auger beneath. Once it was almost empty of grain, they climbed down a ladder to help clean out the corners, a task they loved to do.

What happened next will never be known for sure, but it changed that day of fun and celebratio­n into one of horror.

“I was going to move to the first compartmen­t, which was still full of grain, so I said, ‘Stay out of the canola.’ It was the last thing I ever said to them,” said Roger Bott.

“After that we don’t know what happened. I was taking some samples out of the bottom and saw it wasn’t flowing full speed — something was plugged off — so I climbed up into the truck and saw my oldest, Catie, was already going down and the other two were in it, but not yet buried. But I couldn’t get them out.

“I shut it down, but they kept sinking. Whatever the pull was I couldn’t get them out. At that point, I opened the bottom completely to empty it right out so I could get them, but we weren’t fast enough.”

The husband and wife worked to save their daughters, but to no avail and, as emergency crews arrived, the couple faced the dreadful truth.

“I’m sitting leaning up against the grain trailer and you are just numb at that point. I’m the one who pulled the girls out of the bottom of the trailer and we are exhausted and numb with what we went through.

“At that moment, my wife came up to me, grabbed me by the shirt collar — she is a mess, she has been doing CPR and she has blood on her face and we both knew — and she says, ‘I don’t blame you. I love you and we will get through this together, somehow.’ Then she shook my shoulder and we nodded.”

How the couple and their surviving son Caleb, who was nine years old at the time, managed to carry on rested on their strong Christian faith.

“In a lot of ways, we have accepted what happened, but only because of our faith in God have we been able to do that,” added the father.

“We believe, when we pass on, we are going to be with Jesus forever. Because we knew our kids believed the same thing, that they had made those decisions, then they are with Jesus now. So one of the things that makes it easier for us is that we believe we are going to see our kids again.”

His wife echoes that strong belief.

“We are OK and we will be OK knowing that the girls are with Him in heaven, so that hope for salvation is a great comfort to us as well. If we didn’t have that, I don’t know if we could have survived,” she said.

“We have to go through the rest of our lives without them, but knowing that it is not forever.”

They often speak about their daughters with son Caleb, whom his dad describes as “an unbelievab­le kid.” He misses his sisters, especially his best friend Dara, but still loves life on the farm.

“We talk about them and think about them a lot, but he is pretty strong,” said his dad. “He pours life into whatever he chooses to do.”

The choice to hold strong to their faith amidst such tragedy reinforced the couple’s belief.

“I am 49 now and I have been a Christian most of my life,” said Roger Bott. “It doesn’t mean I have been perfect and lived as a Christian my whole life, but I asked Jesus to be in my heart a long time ago.

“When the accident happened, we felt like we didn’t have a choice but to trust in God. When faced with something that puts your faith to the test, what is the option? I have followed God for decades, so am I going to take everything I’ve believed in for that many years and throw it out the window at one moment, or am I going to believe it when times are not good?

“If we turn our back on what we have learned, then how strong was our faith in the first place? It doesn’t end when something like this happens. God is still with us. We can still lean on Him.”

 ?? FACEBOOK ?? Roger Bott, pictured with his wife and children in Oct. 2013. The family endured a dreadful tragedy when sisters Catie, Dara and Jana were killed in an accident on their central Alberta property in 2015.
FACEBOOK Roger Bott, pictured with his wife and children in Oct. 2013. The family endured a dreadful tragedy when sisters Catie, Dara and Jana were killed in an accident on their central Alberta property in 2015.

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