By Luisa D’Amato and Greg Mercer
The Guelph Mercury
LISTOWEL, Canada — This small town gave a big-hearted double funeral Thursday to two volunteer firefighters who died on St. Patrick’s Day when a burning building collapsed on them.
Family members sobbed, bagpipes and drums sounded a stark refrain, and Premier Dalton McGuinty offered words of comfort to the gathering at the Listowel Memorial Arena.
Thousands of firefighters and police doubled the town’s population for the day. And as they listened to the eulogies and tributes, stoic in their crisp uniforms, a few wiped their eyes with their spotless white gloves.
The farewell to Kenneth Rea, 56, of Atwood, and Ray Walter, 30, of Listowel, showed them to be kind, deeply caring family men who would do anything to help a friend or their community.
Indeed, their willingness to rush into a burning building when everyone else was rushing out “was one final act of love” for those friends and that community, McGuinty said.
“Your love for them made them strong, and their abiding love for you gave them courage,” he told the mourners, some of whom had to stand outside to hear the funeral on speakers in the parking lot.
“Thirteen million Ontarians are carrying you on their shoulders and in their hearts,” McGuinty told the mourners.
“You are not alone, and we will never forget your heroes, our heroes, Ken and Ray.”
Ken Rea was a deputy district chief, a grandfather, and a careful decision-maker, said Captain Scott Smith of North Perth Fire Department.
“He was always there if you needed something. He was calm in a time of chaos. He never made rash decisions,” said Smith.
“We love you more than words can say,” a statement from Rea’s three daughters, Amy Copland, Sara Furey, and Beth Rea said.
Rea was described as a soulmate to his wife Louise and an “awesome” Dad who taught his daughters right from wrong.
“You died doing what you loved to do - protecting your family and community,” said one of his daughters, choked by sobs as she read the statement.
The much younger Walter was a new husband, a diehard Maple Leafs fan with a droll sense of humour, and vice-president of the local Kinsmen service club.
Family member Derrick Frook said he admired Walter in many ways.
“When Ray decided to do something, he had an all-or-nothing attitude,” said Frook.
“Ray worked his way through high school, pumping gas.”
“He taught us how to be a good husband, son, brother-in-law and friend. He taught us how to be a hard worker, a loyal and dedicated employee.”
He taught “optimism, bravery . . . how to laugh, smile, love, and finally, how to be a hero. Lift up your hearts and celebrate Ray’s life.”
Capt. Ron Schildroth also praised Ray Walter’s quiet dignity.
“He doesn’t preach the brotherhood of man, he lives it,” he said.
Then he addressed Walter’s widow Holly, and told her: “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that your time was cut so tragically short.
“Please remember, no matter where life takes you, you will always be a member of our family.”
The fire in which the two men died destroyed the dollar store on the town’s main strip. Police are still investigating the cause.
In the funeral procession to the arena, visiting firefighters and police marched down that main street to the arena, forming a blue river of uniforms that stretched over a kilometre. They came from small town volunteer fire departments and professional big city services, and as far away as Quebec, South Carolina, Michigan, even Australia.
The procession included several hundred firefighters from the Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge fire departments, as well as officers from the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
Thousands of residents lined the street and quietly watched the grim march, led by two black hearses flanked with teary-eyed North Perth firefighters and two officers carrying the helmets of both men.
They were followed by family members in black limousines, a pipe and drum band that rattled the windows above Main Street, and two rumbling North Perth fire trucks, one from the Listowel station and one from Atwood.
Two sets of protective bunker gear were folded on the backs of the fire trucks, which passed underneath two Canadian flags, held aloft by two ladder trucks.
“I’ve never seen so many firefighters in my life. They just keep coming,” said Helmut Weiss, who lives across the street from the town’s fire station. “It was busload after busload.”
Some Listowel residents waited up to two hours in the cold to get into the arena, and then another two hours inside before the funeral began. The floor of the arena was covered with plywood on which stood more than 1,000 folding chairs. A red carpet ran down the middle aisle.
Everyone sat silently, each alone in thought, as the banging drums and wailing bagpipes outside came closer.
When the funeral was over and the caskets were loaded back into the hearses and driven away from the hockey rink, firefighters lined the route on both sides of the street and saluted crisply.
The towns of Listowel and neighbouring Atwood paused for an enormous outpouring of grief.
Streets and roads were closed and many businesses shut down for the day. All over town were tributes to Rae and Walter: dozens of black ribbons strung on posts and doors, billboards with messages to “heroes,” and flowers tacked to a fence outside the charred remains of the fire that claimed their lives.
“I know it’s a clich, but it’s like losing a brother. You work with these people and you train with them. They’re family,” said Cpl. Anja Smits, an army reservist from Stratford who stood in uniform at the side of the road.
“I understand that bond, and it was important to me to show my support.”
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