Exactly a year after a tragic crash on Highway 5 near Clearwater, CN will be holding a memorial for an employee who died while driving a company truck in a head-on collision on April 23, 2024, near Birch Island.
Juver Balmores of Kamloops, who is remembered as a loving husband to wife Ria and father of three young children, Julien age nine, Jace age seven, and Jade age four will be honoured during an unveiling of the new station name sign.
The ceremony will start at 10:30 a.m. with a luncheon following.
Juver's wife Ria told Black Press her husband wanted to spend more time with their children and watched for an opportunity closer to home based out of Kamloops, only having the job on the rail crew driving the truck for three months before the accident happened.
"I know he wanted to have more time with the kids, but now I’m asking God why," she said.
Balmores, a 36-year-old CN employee, was driving a company truck when it collided with the transport truck at around 12:50 a.m. on April 23, 2024. His co-worker and passenger, who wasn’t identified, was injured and taken to hospital while the passenger in the semi-truck also died in the crash.
Ria was a university instructor in the Philippines, having met her husband while teaching there. She described her husband with emotion, saying how they had a long-distance relationship dating each other before she came to Canada in 2011 on a work visa.
“He proposed to me online," she said. "When I said 'yes', he planned the whole wedding in the Philippines. When I got there, I didn’t have to do anything except get my makeup done and put on my wedding gown,” she said with a little laugh. “That is just who he was. Always thinking of everyone else, doing things for us. He loved cooking on his days off and spending time with the kids, like having family movie nights.”
Juver was a former police officer in the Philippines, giving that up to move to Canada once the couple wed and taking a job working at a plywood mill in Savona until applying with CN Rail in 2022.
Ria, described with obvious emotion how not long before he passed away, Juver planned a surprise birthday for their seven-year-old son, Jace.
“In our culture, when a boy turns seven it’s a big celebration. Juver planned this big surprise trip to Hong Kong Disneyland for the kids. It was all planned ahead and the kids didn’t know. I decided to go through with the trip and take the kids after he passed, taking his ashes with us. We had both lost our fathers in recent years, and he had been talking about visiting with his Dad at his grave there not long before the accident. It was very bittersweet going home to the Philippines without him on the trip he had planned and paid for, wanting it to be so special for our family.”
The mother of three says she is so thankful for the support she has received from “our CN family, the union, my sister and her family and the Filipino community” who have been a constant source of comfort for them since Juver passed away. “It’s really amazing, the company has been there for us, so many people helping. I can’t really remember much about those first days after the accident, but people came with food, stayed with the kids and I, offering to help in any way we needed them.”
Her voice breaks with emotion, as she shares the love her husband had for her saying they had talked as married couples do about what would happen if one of them passed before the other and he wanted her to be prepared and reassured.
“He kept saying always remember that you are the only woman in my life. If you want the proof, open my heart. You will see your name inside my heart. I would say back, ‘I know, I know, you are crazy about me since the day you first saw me.’ He was so serious about telling me how much he loved me always. I would say something laughing, but he would tell me he knew what a strong woman I am, that I can survive and do anything. Encouraging me. 'If anything happens to me', he would say, 'you can do it'. He did all of the grocery shopping but not long before he passed away, he wanted me to do it. He loved cooking for me and would make my favourite foods on his days off, taking time to focus on the family. His last text to me was telling me ‘I love you so much. Tomorrow morning when you wake up I will cook your favourite food for you'.”
As she describes the loss of her devoted husband and father to their children she adds, “The kids don’t want me to be far away since we lost their daddy. He was always happy, just wanting to be with the kids. I miss his humour, his cooking, he always forgot himself putting the kids and I first. Even when he was tired, for me he was perfect.”
United Steelworkers Union 2004 president, Cole Kramer issued a statement on April 25, 2024 mourning Balmores death that read, “Joining CN in 2022, Juver quickly endeared himself to his colleagues with his kindness, dedication and unwavering commitment to his work. His passing leaves a profound void in the hearts of all who knew him, within the CN Rail community and beyond.”
The company’s event to memorialize the young husband and father is a sombre reminder of the continued attention on highway safety issues along the Highway 5 corridor, with a focus on those families impacted by such devastating loss as this young family has experienced.
To date, a final report on the collision has yet to be released.
