Halifax Explosion hero's niece reflects on famous uncle

Out on the Red Head Road in Saint John, someone special is remembering Vincent Coleman, the hero of the Halifax Explosion who was immortalized in a Heritage Minute TV commercial in 1991.

Ninety-five-year-old Joan Walsh is his niece, the last surviving member of his family in her generation and — with the 100th anniversary of the explosion just around the corner — she's reflecting on the past.

"He was trying to tell the train not to come in," she said, sitting in a white sweater, facing the window towards the Bay of Fundy.

Sending off one last message

Coleman perished at the telegraph key trying to stop a train of 300 passengers from entering the harbour.

"Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys," the dispatcher's last message read.

While Walsh doesn't believe Coleman was successful stopping the train, and some doubts do exist in the history books, it's generally held Coleman's sacrifice allowed the overnight Saint John train to be held up at Rockingham.

Despite being four miles away, the explosion allegedly blew the train's windows out.

Skyrocketing fame

Coleman, who almost certainly died instantly, quickly became well known as a hero.

Just late last week, Halifax Transit announced it would name one of its two new ferries after Coleman after Walsh's uncle won a popular vote.

And, in 1991, a Heritage Minute was released telling a dramatized, if not fully accurate, version of his story.

"I said, 'for heaven's sake, that man is my uncle,'" Walsh said about the first time she saw it. "I heard in the background, ... 'Listen to Joan, she's saying she's related to him. Here we go again.'"

"At my age, I say, 'that was an uncle,' and they don't realize that I could have all these aunts and uncles that are very old because I'm a very old lady myself."

Her mother's sister married Coleman, she said, and she remembers the stories — more so about his widow who came to live as an additional family with Walsh's.

She said they were invited for a weekend but stayed four years.

Walsh's aunt, Frances O'Toole Coleman, was found unconscious under her sink after the explosion with her baby daughter, in a bloodied dress, clutched in her arms.

"She was hurt in the shoulder," she said. "My aunts used to say, 'poor Fannie.'"

"But aunt Fannie turned out to be quite comfortable in the final analysis," she said. "Later on, she married another man, he had a terrible death and she inherited his home. She immediately put all his family out."  

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While she met his widow, the stories about the bravery of her uncle were only even trickled down to her.

Remembering her uncle's past

"Obviously it was well talked about or I would have never have known about it," she said.

It's in the past, the almost-centennial said, and with her father dying young she never had someone to discuss the event with firsthand.

"It has all become history," she said. "It's all words, names and events."

But, she said, there's still something to gain from remembering the past as long as you don't get stuck in it.

"Why would I bother to think about it?" she asked.  "As they say, I'm the last one."