More than a decade after Christopher Stevenson heroically saved the lives of two workers of the then Georgetown Sewerage and Water Commissioners (GS&WC) at the cost of his own, his children still wish they had had the opportunity to know him better, his wife says.
Back then
Christopher Stevenson, or ‘Chrissie, as he was commonly called lost his life at age 27 on October 20, 1997. The Good Samaritan as he became known for his act of bravery and love had gone into a manhole to rescue the two workers – Gerald Rodie and Ossie Roberts – who had collapsed after they had inhaled poisonous fumes.
According to the Thursday October 21, 1997 edition of Stabroek News, Rodie said he was on the second floor of the sewerage station, at the Sussex, Russell and Hunter streets junction, about to turn off a valve to stop the sewerage flow when he blacked out. Prior to that, he had told Stabroek News, another worker called ‘Bailey’ had gone to the surface to inform the supervisor that there was a gas leakage.
Eyewitnesses to the tragedy said a crew of GS&WC workers was pumping water from the manhole around 10:45 am. The witnesses said they heard shouts coming from inside the manhole and when they ran to the scene, saw a man (Rodie) lying face-down in a pool of slush at the bottom and another scrambling up the ladder to safety. The other workers were milling around in a state of panic. After about 15 minutes, Roberts went down to assist the fallen Rodie. He was given a filter to cover his mouth and nose before he descended into the hole.
Roberts managed to hoist his unconscious partner on his shoulder and proceeded to climb up the ladder. But as he neared the top, he too was overcome by the noxious fumes and they both fell back the approximately 15 feet to the concrete bottom.
It was at this time that Stevenson was passing by and on observing the situation, reacted quickly an eyewitness said. The eyewitness said he went and got a rope to assist Stevenson in his rescue attempt. He recalled that Stevenson quickly climbed down the ladder, strapped the rope around Rodie’s shoulders and brought him up. “This was done in less than a minute, but I noticed froth at the side of Chrissie’s mouth and told him not to go back down,” the eyewitness said. “Chrissie said he can’t leave the other man down there and did not listen to anyone’s advice. Chrissie managed to strap the rope the rope around the other man and when he was just within hand reach from me he fell back down with more froth coming from his mouth.”
Roberts also fell back with Stevenson, who hit his head on a pipe inside the manhole before reaching the bottom, the eyewitness said. Eventually the rope was tied around Roberts and he was pulled to safety. Stevenson was brought up by his legs also with the aid of the rope. All three men were unconscious when they were removed from the manhole.
Some 30 minutes had passed before they were taken to the hospital by a public-spirited citizen. Stevenson was pronounced dead on arrival, but the two workers he rescued, lived. When the then chief engineer of GS&WC, David Dewar spoke to Stabroek News on that fateful day, he said that the crew was on a routine operation–removing an electrical pump which had failed after the station became waterlogged owing to rainfall.
Dewar said an engine propelled pump was being used to get out the water and poisonous gas was released from the sewerage station in the process. He could not specify what gas could have had affected the victims to that extent but said methane was associated with sewerage systems.
Today
In a recent interview, Vanessa Pyle, the woman with whom Stevenson had shared a common-law relationship told Stabroek News that 11 years on she and their four children are still trying to come to grips with his loss.
At the time of Stevenson’s death, Pyle was 25 years old.
According to her, “I was in prison when I get de news that he dead an it was really hard fuh me. I faint away cause I start thinking about how loving he was to me an we children and wah we gun do now dat he gone.”
Though sad that he had lost his own life to save others, she was not surprised because of the type of person he was. “I wasn’t surprised at all. He would do things like dat. He was a very fun-loving and caring person. He would lef he self undone jus fuh see dat other people alright,” Pyle said.
“He was faithful to me and his entire family,” she said, overwhelmed by the memories. “While I went in jail he look after we children and do everything fuh dem. He was de one who would prepare dem fuh school an everything. An he could wash, cook an clean well. He was a really good man.”
She explained that at the time of Stevenson’s death, their children were small and were left with no one to care for them at their Tiger Bay home. But “thanks to Desmond Hoyte who was President then, I get fuh come out a jail fuh look after we children. Me ain’t know how it happen but he order fuh I come out a jail. An suh I get fuh guh to Chrissie funeral an suh.”
At the time of their father’s death, the children: Travis, Makeela, Ashley and Joshua were only 8, 7, 5 and 4 years old respectively and with the exception of Joshua were all attending the Sacred Heart Primary School. They were not fully aware of what had transpired at the time.
Pyle explained that she had to be both mother and father to their children and as they grew older the questions as to where daddy was and why he had to die, started to overwhelm her. Pyle said she tried her best to explain to her children that, “that was life.”
Pyle said they missed Chrissie more and more with each passing day and would often say how happy they would be if they’d had a chance to know their father, the man who many saw as a hero.
Today, Vanessa Pyle has a fifth child, Orin McCrae who is 9 years old and even though the wound of having lost Chrissie is ever fresh in her memory, she said it is important for her to keep moving on with her life since she wants to be a strong support for her children.
Pyle said she was very grateful to the GS&WC which, because of what Stevenson did, supported her and the children financially on a monthly basis. She has received support from the company ever since Stevenson died. She said, “when he died, dey look after the funeral expenses an every thing. I ain’t had to tek a cent out me pocket till up to dis day.”
At the time of the death the then government and private citizens had also supported her and the children in many different ways she added.
Today, 20-year-old Travis is a miner, 19-year-old Makeela is a pre-school teacher, Ashley who is 17 attends the Imperial College and will be writing the CXC examinations this year and 15-year-old Joshua is a student at the Sophia Special School.
