'Thanks, Mom, I love you': parents share memories of youth lost in blizzard
The parents of Kyle Bambrick, who died in a blizzard on P.E.I. on New Year's Day, held a news conference Tuesday to share their final memories and thank the searchers who found his body.
The 18-year-old's body was found along the edge of the Clyde River on Sunday, three days after he went missing from a New Year's Eve party at a golf club in Clyde River.
"Kyle was your clown goof," his mother, Brenda Bambrick, said at the news conference in Cornwall.
"He could make you smile, even when he come home, broke curfew or whatever. He could just come in the door. And you know you couldn't be mad at him, because he was that goofy kid you just loved."
While sharing bits of Kyle's life — his graduation with honours from high school last year, his love of music and how he taught himself to play guitar, his many friends and closeness to his five brothers and sisters — his parents took the time to thank the people who spent four days scouring deep snow to find his body.
"Islanders will be Islanders, and when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, they're there for everybody and they pull together," said Kyle's father, Allie Webster.
"I'd like to thank all the volunteers that were there, and for the search and rescue team, for their help."
"There's so many people out there, they never ever get to find their loved ones, and I don't know how these people get through life when they don't have a body to put to rest," added Kyle's mother.
"I was very fortunate because we have our son back, but there are so many people out there who never get that chance to say goodbye."
No one to blame
Kyle's parents said the death was an accident, and no one is to blame. They said he was just a teenager celebrating the new year with friends, as so many were that night.
Many people involved are blaming themselves, said Webster, and they shouldn't.
"Brenda blames herself that she took him out there and dropped him off. But as we told her, if Kyle had've phoned me I would've done the same thing," he said.
Kyle's parents understand they may never know exactly what happened, and have come to accept that. But they are comforted that they will have the opportunity to lay their son to rest, and his mother will also be able to treasure his final words.
"If there's one thing, his very last words were — he always says, 'Goodbye, Mom, love you' — and that's his last words that I have from New Year's Eve, is 'Thanks, Mom, I love you.'"
Kyle Bambrick's funeral will be held at the Belvedere Funeral Home in Charlottetown on Thursday at 11 a.m., with visitation Wednesday at 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.