Family, friends and colleagues who gathered Jan. 26 agreed it felt like it was just yesterday Carol Schlamp was killed in a tragic ambulance crash.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a part that will never be the same. It will never forget. In other words, there鈥檚 a sliver of grief that remains. It never goes away,鈥� Pete Schlamp, husband and father of their four children Jamie, Michelle, Shawn and Wendy, said.
鈥淲hen you have something like a memorial like this, then it brings to the surface things you thought you were kind of over. I think we all kind of felt the same there, we felt like 鈥榳ow, now it feels like it happened last week鈥�.鈥�
It has been 25 years since the night of Jan. 26, 1993, when the ambulance Schlamp was traveling in as an attendant slammed into the rock wall of Laidlaw Bluff. She died instantly. Her colleague Scott Romine, driving the ambulance, was brought to Chilliwack General Hospital and survived.
The exact cause of the crash has never been determined, but falling rocks, rocks on the highway, speed and dark, rainy conditions were all pondered after the crash.
鈥淭here are lots of unanswered questions from the day that a lot of us have. Anybody that was around at the time,鈥� Larry Kennedy said. He was acting unit chief of the Hope ambulance station at the time of the crash.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the concern, for closure, none of us know one hundred per cent what happened that night.鈥�
Many friends, family and colleagues remember the time after Carol鈥檚 death as a blur or a fog.
Ambulance member Barry Stewart said Carol鈥檚 death deeply affected him. He was serving his thirteenth year as an on-call driver-attendant when he got the call about the crash.
Stewart remembers the night, dark and stormy, and delivering the news to her husband Pete. He hasn鈥檛 taken another call since that night.
鈥淐arol was a respected paramedic, community member and loving wife and mother. Taken way too soon. I stepped away from the service after that day. I never did another shift 鈥攂ut I have total admiration for those who have carried on, serving in Carol鈥檚 absence,鈥� he wrote.
Carol鈥檚 friend and fellow member of a Bible study group Sandi ten Cate Brouwer may have been one of the last people to see her alive, apart from her ambulance partner.
They had planned to bake buns together that day. Carol got called out so she came by ten Cate Brouwer鈥檚 home to reschedule.
鈥淚t was the first significant loss for me,鈥� ten Cate Brouwer said, adding the memories of spending time in Carol鈥檚 kitchen, baking buns, are some of the fondest memories she holds.
鈥淗ow she opened up her home and knew that Michelle would take care of the kids just so that her and I could visit, because she knew that was important. She was just so kind and thoughtful and loving. It was a huge loss,鈥� she said.
Kennedy, who has remained in the ambulance service since, remembers her as a paramedic who was in the job for the right reason.
鈥淪he was very calm, very reserved. She obviously had a very strong belief鈥ery strong faith and she was just a very calm person, very good at her job鈥� he said.
鈥淥ne of the people that did the job for the right reasons. She had no interest in screaming around with sirens to a call. She did it kind of as a community service.鈥�
At the time, the ambulance service relied on people who lived locally and were able to step in part-time.
Schlamp hadn鈥檛 been with the ambulance service long. After eight months serving in Vanderhoof, Schlamp joined the Hope unit in the fall of 1989. She died at age 38.
Four days after the crash, ambulance personnel lined 3 Avenue in Hope to pay tribute to a fallen colleague. Close to 800 people attended Schlamp鈥檚 funeral in what was both a community tragedy and a jarring event for the B.C. ambulance service.
Schlamp was the third member of the service to lose her life while on duty, since then seven more B.C. paramedics have died while performing their life-saving work.
The tragedy hit the Schlamp family hard, Pete Schlamp said, adding it was a difficult few years after her death for him and his four children. He remembers the support he received from the pastor at the Grace Baptist Church at the time, with funeral preparations, comfort and keeping the family fed.
鈥淭he church brought us supper for quite some time and at least then we ate. A person doesn鈥檛 have much of an appetite when you鈥檙e in such grief,鈥� Schlamp said.
He also remembers the ambulance community and church friends coming together to help the family through a devastating time. Schlamp said he is a strong believer in God, this has helped him through the tragedy of losing Carol.
鈥淕rief is difficult but it鈥檚 good, it鈥檚 necessary. To avoid the difficulty would be to avoid healing. So all of the difficulties are healing, providing you are working with the healing and not against it,鈥� he said.
Kennedy keeps Carol鈥檚 memory alive by visiting the site of the crash each year on Jan. 26. He also shares her story with younger ambulance members who weren鈥檛 in the service at the time of Schlamp鈥檚 death.
鈥淭he circumstances are important to remember, for our people and I鈥檓 hoping that the young people that didn鈥檛 know her will hear about it, realize the story and think of issues,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here are all sorts of issues our people need to think about when they鈥檙e behind the wheel of an ambulance.鈥�
Is there more to this story?
emelie.peacock@hopestandard.com
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