In 1958, Philly Lee my first cousin died in a car accident in Upstate New York, on the highway from Montreal to New York City. He was driving his new Volkswagen Bug and was alone in the car. I was eight years old.
It seems he fell asleep and hit a transport truck parked on the shoulder of the road. His mother Mable my mother's sister and her husband had also immigrated to Montreal with my parents, from Newfoundland in 1949, around the same time Newfoundland joined Canada as it's 10th province
Aunt Mable was married to Phil Lee from Petty Harbor, Newfoundland who was a great, man's man and very funny. They had a girl Marie and a boy Philip jr, who we called Philly. He was a air traffic control operator in training at Dorval International Airport in Montreal, after a stint in the Air Force. He was 21.
His death became a great mystery which the extended family of Dwyer and Burke talked about for years after.
It seems Philly had been in Newfoundland visiting family and flew home that fateful day on a plane owned and operated by the Sea fearers International Union. It's infamous president; Hal C. Banks was also on board. He was a reputed tough guy who had arrived from USA in 1949 to bust the Communist controlled Shipping Unions. He built a high profile reputation and was often written up in the Canadian media. In 1964 he skipped the country, just ahead of the RCMP ,who were about to arrest him on a variety of charges. He died in1985.
The RCMP visited Philly's parents after the funeral but it seems they were tight lipped about Philly's activities and told no secrets or tales, if indeed they had any. They told them there was no foul play suspected, even though Philly had phoned his mother from the Dorval airport and said he had landed in Montreal and would be home soon. Uncle Phil and Mable were far too emotionally overcome to press for an answer. Philly was not married but was in a very serious relationship with a pretty young woman I used to see in our church. At the funeral she sat with Philly's family and cried her heart out.
Philly, at 21 was the oldest of my generation of youngsters who were coming fast and furious in those early days. He was handsome and charismatic and used to own a motorcycle before he was persuaded to trade it for the car. All the family men were doing well in their new city, most working in construction. My mother, Gladys Burke had a brother Joe and two sister and my father had two brothers and 3 sisters who had also made Montreal home in the previous five years. It was becoming a real Newfoundland outpost. The family was tight and parties consisted of Newfoundland songs and recitations and chat about how the cod were running at home.
Aunt Mable was destroyed by the tragedy and soon had a shrine to The Blessed Virgin, built outside out little church (which the Dwyer and Burke men had spearheaded building) on the South Shore of Montreal Island.
At the funeral parlor I saw my first dead man. He looked great but Aunt Mable sobbing, took me by the hand and escorted me to the half open coffin and had me put my hand on Philly's forehead to see how cold it was. I could have done without that.
The years ran on and over time many of the family group moved away to Toronto and Boston and a few went home to Newfoundland but the mystery of Philly's death was never solved and his memory faded.
Sometime in the 1990s I visited my Uncle Joe Burke(who since died ) in Montreal and over a chat he told me he had done a renovation at the home of senior RCMP officer and had told him the story of the mystery of; why Philly died in an accident on the road to New York City when he had told his mother he would be home soon. The officer said he would see what he could find. As he was cluing up the job and leaving the officer said he had found and read the file on Philip Lee and his relationship with Hal Banks and would tell him him if really wanted to hear it. Uncle Joe said he thought about it but finally said : "No, he didn't."
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