My son was an iron worker for many years and was one of the guys that worked at crazy heights bolting the steal beams together. Nineteen years ago yesterday he fell from a building they were putting up and was killed. We were a close family and his death hit us all very hard. Yesterday my daughter posted a very nice tribute to Jim and I just thought I'd post it here.
Jim was 6'4" and strong like a bull and tough as nails but also as gentle as a lamb and was loved by everyone who ever met him.
*****
It’s been 6,935 days since you left us.
As each year, each month, each day, each hour, each minute, each second passes and December 13 arrives we are reminded
I still remember the evening of December 13th when I pulled into the driveway and dad was standing on the front steps. At the time, it was normal to see him standing there because he did it 20 times a day as he watched the world go by but at that moment on this day in 2004 I had no idea that my life was about to change forever. I got out of my car and walked up the front steps, just as I did every day. I smiled at dad as I said hello and walked past him. He followed behind me, closing the door and as I walked into my room, he continued down the hall and into the livingroom. A second later dad asked me to come to the living room. I said “ok, gimme a sec while I take off my coat”. He responded quickly and said, “don’t worry about your coat, come now”. As I walked down the hall I said “ok ok, gimme a second, geez”. As I walked into the living room dad was sitting on the couch with a look on his face that I will never forget. He told me to sit, I said “why, what’s wrong?” He repeated himself and said “Sheri, sit down” so I sat. Tears started to well up in his eyes (just as mine are right now as I try to see what I’m writing) then he said it…….. “Jimmy died today”. I remember this so vividly, as though it was just yesterday. I said nothing, I just sat there staring at him and I said “what?” He said it again, “Jimmy died today”. Once again, I just sat there looking at my dad and asked him to repeat what he just said to me, which he did. I honestly felt as though I was just hit in the face with a brick. Then I started…….no no no no no NOO NOO NOO NOO and then uncontrollable crying. To say that was the worse day of my life would be an understatement to say the least. We both sat there crying as he told me what happened. For anyone that doesn’t know, Jimmy was an Iron Worker and one of the best ones as we would soon find out. Jimmy and his partner had unclipped their safety harness and were gonna go have lunch. His partner took the ladder down and my brother was going to take the scissor lift down. His partner was 40 feet below waiting for my brother. When the lift hadn’t come down his partner went back up the ladder to see what was taking so long. When he got to the top Jimmy wasn’t there and the scissor lift was still up. It was at that moment his partner had a gut wrenching feeling. As he got to the lift and looked down…….I can’t finish this sentence, but I don’t think I have to. As my dad is telling me this, I couldn’t breathe and then I stopped him and said “WHERE IS MOM?”
That day was my mom’s work Christmas party. I said to my dad, “Dad, we have to go get her!!!!” My dad responded and said “no, leave her, let her enjoy her Xmas party because after today her life, your life, my life, will NEVER be the same so let Mom enjoy her last happy day before everything changes”. I agreed. Dad and I sat there together, crying. There are 2 things that break my heart when I’m thinking about that night when my dad had to tell me that Jimmy was killed. Almost every day since that night I think about how grateful I am that I was with my dad when I found out but my heart breaks when I’m reminded that my dad was alone when he found out, he sat there, DEVASTATED as he wondered “how am I going to tell Sheri & Diane. My dad had no one with him on the worst day of his life. The other thing that breaks my heart is that when dad and I were home, together, in shock, and devastated beyond what anyone would assume, all the while, my mom was with her friends at their Christmas party downtown, roaring with laughter and completely oblivious to what Dad and I were dealing with at home and completely unaware of what she is about to find out.
When my mom finally got home, she walked through the front door, down the hall, and as she walked into the livingroom and took one look at us and said “what’s wrong, WHAT’S WRONG???”
My dad, choking back tears told her Jimmy was killed……instantly, her knees buckled and all the color drained from her face……absolutely and utterly broken. As if it’s not devastating enough to learn your son has passed away but to then learn how he died forever changed the course of life as she knew it.
I’ll be honest, the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the days that immediately followed are somewhat a blur.
His funeral was beautiful. I have never been to a funeral that had that many people. There were so many that people poured out of the chapel, into the lobby of the funeral home, out the front door and down the sidewalk to the left and right. One of the most touching moments of the funeral were the fire trucks parked outside and the firefighters from my Dads station inside as well as an army of Iron Workers, ALL of them standing at the back of the chapel, dirty from top to bottom, steel toed boots and hard hats tucked under their arm. WOW, Jimmy was loved and very well known which, as I said earlier we came to know.
Years later while I sat in the waiting room at the doctors office another patient walked in and sat beside me. It was obvious he was an Iron Worker, dirty clothes, steel toed boots and a hard hat covered in Iron Worker stickers. I struck up a conversation with him and told him my brother WAS an Iron Worker. He said “was?” How come he’s not anymore? I proceeded to tell him how Jimmy was killed. He looked at me and said “wait, was your brother Jimmy Knighton?”, which obviously I responded “yes, you knew him?” What he said next made me cry instantly and then proudly I smiled. He said “I didn’t know him personally but everyone in the industry knew who Jimmy Knighton was”. He said “Jimmy was one of THEE best Iron Workers there is”. He said “your brother was an AMAZING Iron Worker, he was fearless, he was tough and he was amazing”. I was in awe when he told me that. What an amazing legacy.
As I finish my post I will ask you to do this…….the next time your watching the news, specifically the traffic report, with a camera, known as “The Eyes of Toronto” that is pointed down to the Gardiner Expressway, know this, that camera was mounted on the OUTSIDE at the tippy top of the CN Tower…by Jimmy, so please smile and think of my brother, Jimmy.
19 years ago today, our lives were forever changed,
However, the one thing that did not change and never will is how much we love you Jimmy.
We miss you terribly and we will love you ALWAYS
