Husband, father of two identified as sole death in QEII crash

A 36-year-old man from Carstairs, Alberta, has been identified as the sole death in a 14-vehicle crash that left nine others injured Dec. 27.

The victim, Brad Dowell, was a beloved husband and father of two, and a valued employee.

Friend and owner of Gentlemen Pros, Brham Trim, told CityNews he was surprised when Dowell didn’t show up for his shift as a plumbing technician.

“Brad is always here. He’s usually the first one who comes in, so on Wednesday morning, he just didn’t show up for work.”

Trim said that since there are GPS trackers on their work trucks, they looked for his vehicle using the tracker.

“We thought, ‘we think he’s home, his truck is at home,” Trim said. “But as we zoomed in, it wasn’t there, and it was where that accident was,” he said.

Trim says that the RCMP later confirmed that Dowell was indeed the victim in the Tuesday night QEII crash that took place just north of Airdrie.

“You kind of think, ‘this happens to other people, it doesn’t happen to you or somebody that you know.’ You’re just waiting to wake up from a bad dream,” he said.

While the cause of the collision remains unknown and under investigation, poor visibility and slippery road conditions are believed to be the primary factors.

Dowell’s death is felt deeply by friends, co-workers, and most especially, his family.

“Thursday morning we came in and started sharing stories and stuff,” Trim shared. “The common thread with that was he was just always thoughtful about everybody else.”

In a statement, Dowell’s wife, Shyla, describes him as a “hard-working man with incredible determination to provide for his wife and boys.”

“He was an amazing son and brother who valued time with his family. He knew just what to do to put a smile on your face; Brad was a loveable guy whose positive attitude was truly infectious. If you were fortunate enough to know him, you were truly lucky. He always had a smile on his face, was always positive. If there was a difficult job, he was like ‘let’s get ‘er done, let’s do it,’” she said.

In honour of Dowell’s life, Gentlemen Pros set up a Go-Fund-Me page to help support his family.