By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The arms of the Campbellford community warmly embraced the Wellman family this fall after their daughter Chloe passed in a vehicular accident October 19.
The love and support they extended was something the family wanted to pay forward, Angela Wellman said, and one way was to support the Trent Hills Fire Department in their Christmas drive with a big donation of toys in Chloe’s honour.
“We’re going to do a donation to the food bank as well,” she added.
Local businesses decline to accept payment for services provided and asked that the money be donated in Chloe’s memory. The family was determined to keep donations local to support the community that has supported them; to ensure that Christmas would be a happier time for some of the more vulnerable Trent Hills families.
Angela provided photos of the pile of toys to the companies that had supported them, and hopes they will post them on their social media sites because they deserve a lot of credit for their generosity.
This is not the only way the family is honouring Chloe. In the new year, they will be looking to establish some kind of bursary or award at Hillcrest Public School (where she attended Grades 6 through 8) and at Campbellford District High School (where she was a Grade 12 honours student in the French-immersion program), as well as some kind of project in her honour with the Girl Guides (a youth organization she enjoyed).
Chloe had begun giving some thought to possibly studying psychology, which would not be a surprise given how much she loved the people in her home town.
She was one of those kids you see everywhere one way or another, such as on the job she enjoyed at Master Submarine and her volunteer stints at the arena. She was that girl you saw posted at the door, the helpful young person who served up the coffee at the canteen, the smiling face that brought a smile to your own.
Chloe would have been 17 on December 13, and that upcoming birthday (as well as Christmas) will still be celebrated in the Wellman home simply because it’s what she would have wanted.
The Wellmans are a close and active bunch, the kind who make it a point to eat dinner together and do things as a family. Surviving this tragedy is something they will get through together
Racking up that big toy donation was something they were sure Chloe would have wanted, and Angela was so pleased at how the whole family got into it.
Her eight-year-old son Owen and 15-year-old daughter Brooke joined her in keeping it local, hitting the stores in their own back yard on a PA Day with a certain budget in mind. But it was so much fun (and they kept seeing so many great toys they knew someone would love) that they just kept going.
That local component was important to them, knowing how small businesses are struggling these days.
“We live in a great town,” she declared
“We don’t need Amazon. We can do all our shopping here.”
Angela and her husband Jeff are grateful to the community where they grew up – Angela in Campbellford, Jeff in nearby Hastings – and they were happy to bring their children to such a close-knit area to grow up in.
Angela even feels maternal towards Chloe’s friends, who are going through that intense shock that the death of one of their own brings to those who are very young. Recalling the pride Chloe took in buying her first car last summer, they recently sold it to one of her friends with the wish she could know that same exuberant feeling – something she is sure Chloe would have wanted.
That kind of thought – what Chloe would have wanted – is something that hits the family fairly often. And their hope for the new year is to pursue many other opportunities to do the kind of things she would have wanted that will continue to make her spirit felt both at home and in her beloved hometown.
The Wellman family would like to send a special thank you to Van Till Tree Care (Shane & Katherine) and Earth Angel (Jodi).
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
