Community Presentations on Dresden 1957

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to the Rotary Club in Dresden, Ontario. It was the first of series of community presentations we plan to give this summer, and it felt right to begin in Dresden, where the central event in this film happened.

There were about 40 people in attendance, a mix of Rotary Club members and other local residents. I started off telling them a bit about my father and his background: a working class boy from London, England who studied engineering. In Canada he worked in different areas in Ontario before coming to Dresden on the last day of July, 1957.

I spoke about the water issues plaguing Ontario towns and cities and the Ontario Water Resources Commission, which was formed in 1956 to help plan and finance the construction of modern waterworks facilities in municipalities across the province. Dresden was one of the first projects undertaken by the new agency.

Then I talked about Dutch postwar emigration and the trials that many families faced in their first years here as farm labourers. I focused particularly on five families, who had settled in the Aylmer area and whose fathers (and one older brother) had found employment with Keillor Construction. These are the men who were sent to work in Dresden.

The audience included several Dresden residents who had personal memories of the tragedy: Helen Law was at baseball practice with her team on the night of the cave-in; Joe Faas, who later served as Dresden mayor, was 7 years old and was camping with his family and heard the news from fellow campers. Tina Okkema was also there: her husband Harry was the lone survivor of the cave-in. Marie Carter was just three when the tragedy occurred. She didn’t learn about it until much later in her work as a local reporter. In 2017(?) Marie wrote what is until now the only contemporary account of the tragedy - a well-written and researched article published in (newspaper).

I want to thank John Laing and the Dresden Rotary Club for hosting me, Wayne Hoogsteen for joining me (and doing the driving!), and the whole audience for their interest in this important story.

Interested in having a presentation on Dresden 1957 for your group or organization? Send us a note on the contact page!