His calm hand at the helm and quick reactions saved the day for a busload of seniors
To the Expositor:
Regarding Bill Sloan winning this year’s senior award (‘Bill Sloan named Senior of the Year for Gordon/Barrie Island,’ Manitoulin West Recorder, July 7), I would like to add one more thing to his list of accomplishments.
It happened 35 years ago when members of both the Espanola and the Manitoulin Women’s Institute chartered a bus for a tour of southern Ontario with Bill as our driver. On the bus that day were myself, my mom and 26 other women, many of whom were seniors.
An incident, however, happened on that trip that if not for Bill none of us would be here today.
We were heading south on Highway 8 when, just as we began to descend that part of the Niagara Escarpment known as Dundas Hill, the brakes on the bus failed.
After barely making the first curve in the highway, the bus careened down the hill with the escarpment on our right hand side the whole way down. To avoid going over the cliff Bill took the bus to the opposite side of the road, knocking down sign posts and streets lights as we went. Oncoming traffic swerved to avoid us and we scarcely missed the abutments of a train overpass.
Bill was finally able to get the bus off the road and we came to a stop on the railway tracks beside the Dundas train station. We were relieved to be alive but the ordeal didn’t end there. An employee of the railway rushed out to tell us that a train was due to come along any minute and that we had to get off the tracks. After much difficulty, Bill was able to back off the tracks with just moments to spare.
Bill’s handling of the situation that day, his quick reaction and skill, was later credited by the OPP as the only thing that prevented that bus from going over the escarpment and plunging 80 feet into the valley below.
I and everyone on that bus that day owe Bill a lifetime of gratitude.
Congrats on winning this award Bill—you deserve it.
Betty (Granger) Russell
Tehkummah
