Truck-crash victim ‘just lit up the room’

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This article was published 18/12/2014 (4317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Friends and co-workers on Wednesday described a Winnipeg trucker, crushed to death by cargo he was transporting, as a fun-loving man who ran a successful bar and was once in the thick of the 1980s music scene.

But his past was not without adversity.

Barry Johnson, 57, was killed Tuesday on Lagimodiere Boulevard near Dugald Road when the load of steel railway tracks he was transporting hurtled forward on his flatbed semi-trailer and smashed through the back of the cab.

“He just lit up the room… any room, that’s the best way to describe him,” said William Belanger, a friend of 37 years.

Belanger, a land developer in Costa Rica, said he and Johnson met in the late 1970s at the Norlander Inn on Pembina Highway. Johnson later managed Belanger’s bar, Corner Boys, and the two remained in constant contact.

“We were following bands around — Streetheart, Harlequin, the Pumps, etc.,” Belanger said. “We’d head to Grand Beach every weekend in the ’80s. He was just a great guy, his humour was contagious and he had a huge heart.”

Heading home to see his ailing mother, Belanger said his friend was one of the first people he had wanted to see in Winnipeg. He predicted Johnson’s funeral would be a grand affair.

“I can’t imagine the eulogies that will be at his funeral. All of the beautiful stories… I imagine the wake for Barry will be huge, hundreds of people.”

Johnson never married, but his older brother said he was the one others turned to when help was needed to right a situation.

“You have a guy who was 57 but he was still a little boy,” Bruce Johnson said.

“I looked up to him. I felt that he had that other level, he had an impact on people.

“He had his insecurities but that gave him a great ability to give to people.

“He had been through AA around 20 years ago and then became a mentor. He was always the guy that organizers would call when they had a guy hitting rock bottom. They always relied on him to help out.”

Though he only started working at R. Murray Trucking Ltd. in Springfield in November, Johnson had already won praise.

“He was a good worker,” said Line Courcelles, wife of company owner Roger Murray.

Murray was too distraught to comment on the accident.

“Our hearts go out to his family and those who knew him,” Courcelles said. “It’s a huge loss for us and our company.”

She said the company first heard about the accident at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, more than two hours after emergency crews were called to the scene.

“We found out about it through the media first,” she said. “Guys are in and out of (the shop) so we don’t always hear from them throughout the day. The police finally called us later. I felt they should have got a hold of us a lot sooner.”

Terry Shaw, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said accidents like the one that took Johnson’s life are a reality of the job.

“Our drivers find themselves in work environments that can be inherently dangerous,” he said. “Drivers are working at mines, construction sites and are dealing with the elements on roads and highways.”

Bruce Johnson said questions were bound to be raised about what happened.

“People are going to ask if his load was secured enough or not,” he said.

“We aren’t looking at that right now. We’ve talked to people in trucking now and they said you can do your entire due diligence and then you bounce the truck and something comes loose.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca