A ‘story that still needs to be told’: Remembering the homeless

Oct 18, 2019 | 6:00 AM

One by one flowers were laid at Polson Park, to remember those on the street that died this past year.

Sheila Lavigne stood next to her 11-year-old daughter Alice to remember friends Dave and Theresa.

“She tried,” Lavigne said tearfully about her friend Theresa.

“She was in two months recovery, ended up in the hospital; a week later she had a cardiac arrest because her system couldn’t handle it anymore with being sober. For me it wasn’t too late for her. It wasn’t too late for anybody.”

Sheila Lavigne and daughter April Lavigne lay flowers in honour of friends they lost this year. (Tiffany Goodwein/Vernon Matters Staff)

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The mother-daughter duo later came together in song at the homeless memorial Thursday singing Can I Get an Amen, a song about hope in the darkest of circumstances.

In the crowd listening was Sandy Coolidge, a person who knows all too well the pain of losing someone on the street.

Coolidge tragically lost a friend behind a dumpster near the Schell Hotel. According to Coolidge, ‘Newfie Dave,’ as he was commonly known, came to Vernon from Newfoundland, lost his wife, and struggled with mental illness.

“I’m here because Newfie Dave died and nobody one was there with him,” she said.

For six years, the homeless memorial has been taking place, and while it is a sombre occasion, Rev. Chuck Harper with the North Okanagan Community Chaplaincy said this year comes with a positive note filled with hope.

“For me there wasn’t as many deaths, and to me that’s the biggie. But those we lost last year are friends, are family, are loved ones, and their story still needs to be told,” Harper said.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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