By Yvette d'Entremont - The Weekly News
WINDSOR JUNCTION - When Joy Goudge parted ways with Julie Vials following their meeting last Wednesday, she had no idea it would be the last time she'd see her friend.
Vials died in hospital less than four hours after the back of her blue Hyundai Accent was hit by a Via Rail passenger train sometime after 1 p.m. on Jan. 27. The accident occurred at 464 Windsor Junction Rd. next to Watson Lane. There are no warning signs or lighted signals at the private, unmarked cros-sing.
"I saw her at 11:30 a.m. We were talking to the community liaison RCMP officer and she was all excited and getting ready for the next community meeting," Goudge recalled.
The accident happened just metres from Vials's home. Her death has shaken the community of Windsor Junction where Vials made her home decades ago after leaving her native England.
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Julie Vials demonstrated CPR to seniors at last years seniors academy. Vials died Jan. 28 when her car was hit by a train near her Windsor Junction home. |
A Facebook group was created shortly after her death. Called "In Loving Memory of Julie Vials," a short write-up described Vials as a kind person, willing to help anyone in need.
"Julie never knew the word slow down she had to be going all the time. Julie was a kind- hearted person, who always put others needs ahead of her own," the description stated.
The list of community organizations to which Vials devoted her time is voluminous, and several people who knew her feared they'd never be able to remember every cause to which Vials donated her time.
In addition to volunteering for many years with the Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, and Heart and Stroke Foundation, Vials served more than five years with the Cobequid Community Health Board, on the LWF Community Hall board, helped kick start the Fall River seniors academy program, and shared her knowledge of CPR with seniors and youth groups alike.
She was remembered last week as a pioneer for female firefighters. Recognized as the first female firefighter at the Halifax International Airport, Vials also made inroads as fire chief at her community's volunteer fire department in the early 1990s.
Fred Fellows knew Vials for close to 30 years. On the Facebook group dedicated to her memory, he described her as a good friend that you could trust and an excellent firefighter.
"I was chief of the LWF Fire Dept and she was my deputy, and I have always felt that she was the best D/Fire Chief that the department ever had," Fellows wrote. "Much of the work that she (did), others took credit for. But that didn't bother her, she just kept on going. This neighbourhood is a much better place because of her, and her passing will be a great loss to the area."
| A celebration of Vial's life will be held in St. John's United Church, 3360 Highway #2, Fall River on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m., followed immediately by a reception at the LWF Community Hall, 843 Fall River Rd., in Fall River. Memorial donations in memory of Vials can be made to the Lung Association of Nova Scotia or The Arthritis Society, Nova Scotia Division. |
Coun. Barry Dalrymple said her death is a loss not just for the community, but for all the community groups that benefitted from her volunteerism.
"I called her feisty. She didn't suffer fools well. She was up front, honest and worked hard, and she expected everybody else to," Dalrymple said.
Dalrymple is finishing a late submission to the HRM Volunteer Recognition Committee to have Vials recognized for all her volunteer efforts.
While friends waited for information about a memorial service, words of admiration and respect were spoken by people in Windsor Junction and beyond.
"She was a real doer, she was always somewhere doing something," said Goudge, who volunteered alongside Vials as a member of the Cobequid Community Health Board until Vials' term was up last fall.
"She was always there for everyone. She always drove people who couldn't get from point A to point B. And if you wanted to know what was going on in the community, you called Julie."
When Goudge heard Vials had been killed, she struggled to understand what could have happened.
"I said right away this is just not like Julie. She knew those train schedules," she said.
Friends and acquaintances have described Vials using terms like spit fire, live wire and fire cracker.
The community's MP Peter Stoffer described her last week as a real community spark plug who never shied away from helping anyone in need.
"She will be dearly, dearly missed. She lived her life well, with a great sense of community and you won't find a person in the community that would say a bad word about her," Stoffer said.
"She was cool. I'm not alone when I say that I'm going to miss her a lot."
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca
