Close X
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
ADVT 
National

'Why, Why Why?' Funeral Held For Three Alberta Sisters Buried In Grain Truck

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Oct, 2015 08:18 PM
    RED DEER, Alta. — Eleven-year-old Jana Bott was the quietest of the three sisters, an artistic girl who painted sunsets, sewed her own
    nightgown, decorated cakes and went most places clutching a pet rabbit named Marbles.
     
    Her twin sister, Dara, was a tomboy who tore around on a quad in her family's farmyard, her helmet plastered with mud. She played with insects, shot a bow and arrow, and collected stuffed cats.
     
    The oldest girl, 13-year-old Catie, was vibrant with an infectious grin. She wrote songs, made up plays and loved to read books and ride horses.
     
    A funeral for the Alberta sisters was held in Red Deer on Friday, 11 days after they were buried in a truckload of canola on their parents' farm near the village of Withrow.
     
    RCMP said the girls had been playing in the truck and suffocated before they could be pulled out.
     
    Brian Allan, a pastor at Withrow Gospel Mission and a friend of the Bott family, told hundreds of people who gathered for the service that it's difficult to understand the deaths.
     
    "Why, why why?" he said. "How is it possible that suddenly they could be swept away from us the way they were?
     
    "There are some things that are a mystery to us and will be until we get to the other side."
     
    Photos and home movies showed the three blond girls dressed up for church, pulling fish out of a lake and driving a combine on the farm. Several musicians played throughout the service.
     
    Five of the girls' female cousins, wearing crocheted headbands in the sisters' favourite colours — purple for Jana, blue for Dara and green for Catie — took turns on stage describing the trio and how they loved farm life.
     
     
     
    The girls' parents, Roger and Bonita Bott, have said they don't regret raising and involving their children on the farm. They also have a younger son, Caleb.
     
    Allan said friends and neighbouring farmers pitched in to finish the family's harvest the day after the accident.
     
    The small community is a close-knit one, he said, and everyone in it is hurting.
     
    Some of the first responders who rushed to scene to try to revive the girls knew them as family friends or from a nearby school they used to attend. A few years ago, the Bott children started home schooling.
     
    The girls were kind, mature and responsible children taken from the world too soon, said Allan.
     
    After they died, he woke up without the same trivial worries he'd had before, he said. Their deaths have put things in perspective.
     
    "Who cares if the Blue Jays win or not? Who cares if the price of oil drops through the basement? ... Nothing else matters, because our three girls were taken."
     
    He and others in the church believe the girls are dancing in heaven, and everyone will see them again, he said.
     
    "This isn't goodbye. This is we'll see you in a while."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Forestry Crews Busy Spotting New Fires Spawned By Overnight Storm

    Forestry Crews Busy Spotting New Fires Spawned By Overnight Storm
    A lightning storm has rolled across the B-C Interior and the B-C Wildfire Management Branch says it means more work -- and more concern -- for the province's parched woodlands.

    Forestry Crews Busy Spotting New Fires Spawned By Overnight Storm

    Suzuki Foundation Finds Heavy Metals In Delta Biosolids Sent To Merritt Compost Plant

    Suzuki Foundation Finds Heavy Metals In Delta Biosolids Sent To Merritt Compost Plant
    KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Opponents of the shipment of biosolids to the Nicola Valley near Merritt, B.C., have gained some ammunition, thanks to a recent lab analysis from a well-known environmental group.

    Suzuki Foundation Finds Heavy Metals In Delta Biosolids Sent To Merritt Compost Plant

    Diane Forsyth, Halifax Woman Who Led Class Action In Blood Transfusion Case Dies

    Diane Forsyth, Halifax Woman Who Led Class Action In Blood Transfusion Case Dies
    HALIFAX — A Halifax woman who led a $1.18 billion class-action settlement for those infected with hepatitis C has died.

    Diane Forsyth, Halifax Woman Who Led Class Action In Blood Transfusion Case Dies

    Fans, Colleagues Visit Memorial To Chris Hyndman At CBC Headquarters

    Fans, Colleagues Visit Memorial To Chris Hyndman At CBC Headquarters
    TORONTO — Fans and colleagues descended on CBC headquarters Wednesday to pay their respects to TV star Chris Hyndman.

    Fans, Colleagues Visit Memorial To Chris Hyndman At CBC Headquarters

    SiriusXM 'Fortunate' To Have Ex-CBC Personality Evan Solomon Host Talk Show

    SiriusXM 'Fortunate' To Have Ex-CBC Personality Evan Solomon Host Talk Show
    TORONTO — Evan Solomon, a former CBC personality who was fired over conflict-of-interest allegations, has landed a new job as the host of a political talk show on SiriusXM Canada.

    SiriusXM 'Fortunate' To Have Ex-CBC Personality Evan Solomon Host Talk Show

    Montreal Cabbie Facing Seven Charges After Allegedly Ramming Two People With Car

    Montreal Cabbie Facing Seven Charges After Allegedly Ramming Two People With Car
    A Montreal cabbie who allegedly hit two people on purpose with his vehicle was  arraigned Tuesday on seven charges, including dangerous driving and criminal negligence.

    Montreal Cabbie Facing Seven Charges After Allegedly Ramming Two People With Car