Hamilton contractor lived for his daughter
February 09, 2010
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 9, 2010)
Roy Rushton was close to finishing his work at a power plant Sunday when he made a fateful decision to send co-worker Adam Young to work in another part of the site.
Moments later, a deadly explosion felt as far as 30 kilometres away rocked the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, Conn.
Rushton, a 36-year-old husband and father who lived on Hamilton's Beach Strip, was killed.
Young, 26, also from Hamilton, escaped unharmed.
"(Rushton) was completing what he was doing and told Adam to go and do another part of the job at the other end of the plant," said Jim Bowman, manager of Asbestos Workers Union Local 95, of which the men are members.
The 11:15 a.m. explosion killed five and injured more than two dozen.
Workers were installing insulation at the under-construction Kleen Energy plant. The blast happened as workers were clearing air from gas lines.
Authorities launched a criminal investigation yesterday into the cause of the explosion, saying they couldn't rule out negligence.
Bowman said Young's father was on a plane to bring his devastated son home.
The Hamilton men were friends working for Coverflex Manufacturing Inc., a Houston, Texas-based company. They were contracted out to Siemens to put insulation on two gas turbines being installed at the site. Both turbines were produced at the Siemens plant in Hamilton.
The blast happened the day before they were to return home. They had been at the plant for just a week.
"Roy sent Adam away at just the right moment and saved his life and Roy took the brunt," said Rushton's wife, Patty Dean-Rushton.
Rushton was the supervisor and Young was the apprentice on the pipe insulation job.
Young called his father, Scott Young, who is also his boss. Scott came to Dean-Rushton's door Sunday to tell her about the blast but did not know at the time if Rushton was among the dead.
Nine hours later, police confirmed he was and that his body was still at the site.
"I don't know how to tell his daughter her daddy's gone," said Dean-Rushton yesterday between tears. "She thinks Daddy is just at work."
Clare, 4, is the couple's only child and was the light of her father's life. Rushton closely followed her ringette and gymnastics activities and loved spending time with her.
"He was a loving father who lived for his daughter," said Dean-Rushton, 42.
His mother and sister watched the news all day Sunday and called anyone they could in Middletown -- police, Red Cross, the hospital -- trying in vain to find out if Rushton was alive. They, too, are concerned for Clare.
"It's such an early age to lose a dad," said his mother, Joan Rushton.
Rushton went to Delta Secondary School and Mohawk College, loved sports and was a Toronto Maple Leafs and Miami Dolphins fan. He also played golf.
He was an on-call volunteer with the Hamilton Beach Rescue Unit for more than 20 years, said the unit's chief, Leon Buta, who described him as a "good-hearted guy that was pleasant to work with."
His sister, Jodi Rushton, said he was very accommodating.
"He was just a well-liked guy," she said.
Union official Bowman is friends with both the Rushton and Young families and fought back tears as he spoke yesterday.
He said the job was "nothing out of the ordinary."
"It's a hit to us personally, but it's also a hit to the construction industry in Ontario because we try to prevent these things from happening," he said. "It's like losing a member of our family."
Bowman said he has heard questions about whether the facility should have been evacuated before the gas lines were cleared.
rdelazzer@thespec.com
905-526-3404
