‘It’s going to show the world’
Out of tragedy, family hopes for Newfoundland and Labrador lost fishermen’s monument
Members of a Shea Heights family who lost three generations and a friend in a tragedy almost two years ago are trying to raise money for a monument on Cape Spear to all of Newfoundland and Labrador’s lost fishermen.
The monument would be not just a remembrance of those lost in the Walsh family — Eugene, Keith and Keith Jr. — and close friend Billy Humby, but to any other fishermen their families want to see added to it.
Four fishermen, including three generations of the Walsh family — Eugene, Keith and Keith Jr. — and close friend Billy Humby were lost after their 22-foot boat Pop’s Pride overturned off the coast of Cape Spear on Sept. 6, 2016.
The boat left St. John’s harbour that day early in the morning with the four men onboard to check their cod gillnets.
Eugene and Keith Sr.’s bodies were never recovered.
Daphne Walsh, once married to Eugene Sr.’s brother, remains close with the family and said how elaborate the monument will be depends on the amount raised. She hopes to spread the word, not only for fundraising, but to find other families affected by fishing tragedies.
“Every penny will go into the fund,” she said.
“There’s a lot at sea who should have their name on it.”
Eugene Walsh Jr. lost his father, brother and nephew, an unimaginable loss in one tragedy.
He said he thought he would be able to depend on his trademark strength, but in the wake of it all, found himself crashing without realizing what was happening. Weight melted away from despair, and his kids helped lift him to seek counseling, he said.
He and Keith Sr. were only 14 months apart and did everything together.
“We were like twins,” he said. “Building houses, renovating, fixing trucks, doing this and doing that. I was with him more than my immediate family.”
He hopes the monument could be erected in time for the two-year anniversary.
“I hope it’s going to help a lot of families, too,” he said of the project being something that can draw attention to the tragedies in the fishing sector.
He said Cape Spear is an ideal spot because of the number of tourists who would also see the monument and know what a toll the sea has taken on lives. “It is going to show the world,” he said. Gloria Walsh, 15, lost her dad — Keith Sr.— and brother, Keith Jr. A wood cross she placed on Cape Spear about a month after the tragedy was vandalized.
She also wants a monument that’s not just about her family, but about all fishermen.
“It’s not only our family this happened to, you know?” she said.
“It’s kind of unfair to have a monument to my dad, my brother and them and not include all the fishermen who were lost in Newfoundland and Labrador. Fishermen risk their lives every day when they go out on the ocean. If my father was here now he would do the exact same thing — some people who were lost at sea didn’t get this much respect.
“I want as much names as we can fit on the monument.”
Gloria said she takes strength from what her father would want her to do — keep going, finish school and follow her dreams.
“I’m taking it day by day — mostly minute by minute. Everything reminds me of them,” she said.
“I has my days, but I get back up again, because I can’t just give up.”
Finance Minister Tom Osborne, whose district as an MHA includes Shea Heights, told The Telegram he is optimistic that land will be donated by Parks Canada.
Osborne said he has been consulting with St. John’s South-mount Pearl MP and Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’regan on the issue.
“It’s hugely important because for anyone lost at sea who has never been recovered, this monument will be the closest site that individuals or families can go and remember their loved ones,” Osborne said.
“It will be a monument for all fisher people — the significance of it giving people an area to go and remember.”
Osborne said perhaps there could be periodic ceremonies as there are at other monuments.
“In this province, we are here well over 500 years now and I would say if people saw the statistics of lost lives, it would be frightening,” he said.
Osborne noted the community spirit driving the project.
“I have often said the community of Shea Heights is just an incredible community when you look at an issue like this — the community will come together and make sure it happens. This is one of those times. … What they are doing here not only reaches their family and community, but the entire province,” he said.
O’regan, in a statement Monday to The Telegram, indicated support for the idea. “Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have persevered on the sea to make their livelihoods for generations. Sadly, some never returned home and a memorial for those lost in Newfoundland and Labrador’s fishery would be a fitting tribute to the Walsh family, and all the families who have suffered a loss off our coasts,” O’regan stated.
A Transportation Safety Board report found that adverse weather conditions led to the sinking of the boat, and that the fishermen had likely been motivated to head out in those conditions because of certain fisheries regulations and economic pressures.
Eugene Walsh Jr. said while both his brother and father remain missing, he gets a bit of peace knowing they are together.
Donations to the monument can be made through the Fishermen’s Monument Fund at the Royal Bank on Freshwater and Crosbie roads.