Canadian Town Mourns Loss Seniors Killed In Bus Crash Were Always On The Go And ‘Young In Spirit’

They were an active group of senior citizens, constantly organizing picnics, contests and trips. On what should have been one of their most festive outings, 42 of them died in a horrific crash.

Their hometown, St. Bernard, was in mourning Tuesday - a day after the bus carrying members of the Golden Age Club lunged off a treacherous hillside curve 60 miles away along the St. Lawrence River.

The bus driver also died. The death toll of 43 was believed to be the highest of any highway accident in Canada.

Nearly every family in St. Bernard, a farming town of just 2,100 people, lost a relative or a neighbor in the accident that claimed half the members of the town’s senior citizens’ club.

Those club members who hadn’t been on the bus “are overcome with grief,” said the Rev. Rene Roy, a trauma counselor who works with the Quebec City Fire Department.

St. Bernard Mayor Liboire Lefebvre lost three relatives and two neighbors.

Eight members of the Labreque family were killed, including the Golden Age Club president, Yalonde Labreque.

“She was the organizer of everything,” said Louis Fournier, director of a local savings bank.

The club often visited museums in Quebec City, 22 miles away, or went on road trips for cultural events or to admire the fall foliage. They invited younger folks in for dinners and parties, or played cards and boules, a type of lawn bowling.

“They were young in spirit,” said Paule Croteau, who works at the town hall.

“They kept themselves busy and they kept strong ties with the community.”

On Monday, club members had been heading out on an overnight trip to an island in the St. Lawrence. It was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and, following a local tradition, they were to celebrate an early Christmas party complete with gifts and Santa Claus.

But on one steep grade - at the same place where a 1974 tour bus crash killed 13 other people - their bus dropped into a ravine, shaking the passengers like a rattle and throwing some onto the rocks.

Other than the 29-year-old male driver, the victims ranged in age from 50 to 84.

There were 30 women and 12 men, including several married couples.

Five passengers who survived the accident were listed in stable condition Tuesday after undergoing surgery at the Enfant-Jesus hospital in Quebec City. But Dr. Pierre Frechette told reporters the three men and two women, ages 60 to 71, suffered “very serious injuries” and might not survive.

Marc-Andre Lachance, the local priest since 1990, struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as he told reporters of his plans to meet all the grieving families and arrange a mass funeral service.

“People here are wounded,” he said. “They have been hit hard.”

As relatives of the dead went to Quebec City on Tuesday to identify the bodies, residents in this town of rolling hills and dairy farms struggled to go on with their lives. School was in session and most shops were open.

The cause of the afternoon crash has yet to be determined. Road conditions were dry and the sun was shining. There were hardly any skid marks on the road; police have not ruled out brake failure.

Inspectors were examining the wrecked bus Tuesday at a garage.

A statement from Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard said a public inquiry would be held after a coroner’s investigation is completed.