'He had a big heart': Father of fallen teenage wildland firefighter remembers his son
CTV
When 19-year-old Jaxon Billyboy graduated high school in Williams Lake in June, it was a proud moment for his father Sheldon Bowe.
When 19-year-old Jaxon Billyboy graduated high school in Williams Lake in June, it was a proud moment for his father Sheldon Bowe.
“He was very resilient. He worked against the odds of growing up Indigenous, through addictions, abuse, through grieving, and loss. There is a lot that he went through, and he still got up and graduated and walked out and got a job,” said Bowe.
That job was wildland firefighting. Billyboy was hired by Tomahawk Ventures, a Kamloops-based company contracted by the provincial government to battle wildfires this summer.
Tomahawk Ventures team leader Josh Weisner took Billyboy under his wing. “He was very quiet, you know….reserved. But he was the first to listen, the first one to learn, the first to ask questions. It was was such a blessing to teach him.”
The Tomahawk crew wrapped a two-week assignment near Fort St. James on Monday, and split into two vehicles for the drive back to Kamloops base. Early Tuesday morning, the pickup truck that Billyboy, Kenneth Patrick, Blain Sonnenberg and another firefighter were riding in collided with a semi truck on the Trans-Canada highway. All four men died.
“I was in disbelief with my daughters, and I kind of still am in disbelief,” said Bowe. “But I am also content with his life choices, and where he came from to where he ended up.”
Bowe said his son wanted to give back, and wildland firefighting allowed him to do that.
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