Andre Bouvier Sr. is 80-years-old and has been hailed as a hero for saving three cars of people that were stuck in an impassable blizzard which the locals refer to as a “Saskatchewan Screamer.”
The retired rescuer hiked half a kilometre through the winter whiteout to reach a lady who had hailed for help on social media after getting stuck and fearing for her safety.
We’ve all may have done something similar when Shannon St. Onge saw the weather front approaching – ‘I’ve got time to finish this errand’ then when you start to head home it dawns on you that you really didn’t have the time.
As she was leaving, snow began to fall, she took a dirt road for better traction on her tire, she quickly lost her sense of direction, and the ability to see more than a slither of the road’s edge from her rolled down window. She called 911 and they suggested waiting out the storm as her tank was full and she was able to keep warm.
She wrote in a Facebook post: “She (the operator) took my information and told me an officer would call me back. Almost 14 hours and counting and nobody has called me yet to check in,”
“Would the gas tank last until morning? What if I was hit by another vehicle? What if I fell asleep and the tailpipe was blocked? What if I didn’t make it home at all?” she thought to herself.
She was determined to find a safe end to her bad day and ventured out in the snowstorm and found a road sign, she then reached out to the local neighbourhood Facebook group telling those of her problem and location via a Google maps pin.
That’s when the hero of the story, Andre Bouvier Sr, who was doing some genealogy research in the safety of his own home got a call about Onge’s situation. He started wrapping up while ignoring his wife who was concerned for his safety and headed out on foot after his tractor failed to start.
On route, he found three other stranded vehicles and after walking a quarter-mile there and back he rounded up and led the stranded cars back to his house one by one.
“Once we arrived to [his] house, and I parked the car, I got out and jumped into his arms and gave him a great big bear hug, I was sobbing with gratitude, I was so grateful.” Onge said to CBC News.
Bouvier invited the survivors to stay at his house for the evening where they laughed and ate and carried on their journeys the next day after he ploughed the driveway.
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