Schoolmates mourn outgoing wrestler Candace Vanderwiel after her death in car crash

March 25, 2001
The Standard
by Karena Walter

She had a beaming smile, wore pink lipstick and changed her hairstyle constantly, but the feminine Candace Vanderwiel could wrestle most girls her size to the ground. And she did. The outgoing Beamsville student took on the sport of wrestling with flair and gained a reputation as a tough but fair competitor. "When she's on the mat she's a tiger, but off the mat she's a sweetheart," her high school coach said. The 19-year-old was killed Tuesday in a single vehicle crash down the street from her home, with a childhood friend by her side. The accident critically injured 19-year-old Strattan Legace and has left a community shaken. That community will use the gymnasium of Beamsville District Secondary School for Vanderwiel's funeral Saturday to accommodate the many mourners expected. It is a place Vanderwiel knew well. As a national-level wrestler, cheerleader and athlete involved in gymnastics and soccer, she spent many hours in the school's gym. But her activities went beyond athletics, participating in student council and leading a Brownie troop each week. She also worked last summer as a camp counsellor with children who have special needs for Grimsby, Lincoln and District Community Living. It was something she got involved in as the sibling of a brother with cerebral palsy."She stuck up for the people who couldn't stick up for themselves," her father Ben Vanderwiel said Wednesday.
School students hug and cry after placing flowers Wednesday near the spot where their friend Candace Vanderwiel was fatally injured when a car struck a hydro pole Tuesday night. Their bouquet was left on a splinter of the smashed pole on Regional Road 81 near Cherry Avenue in Lincoln.

He said it was just her personality. Her brother Ben died a little over two years ago. They were the only children in the family.

"They're together now," her father said quietly. As he spoke Wednesday, his thoughts were also with Legace, whom he visited in hospital, where she is on life support. He said was a very good friend of his daughter since elementary school.

Vanderwiel had been sitting in the passenger seat of a 1993 Mazda Precidia being driven by her friend Legace, who lives across the street in Beamsville. As they travelled east on Regional Road 81, Legace lost control of the car just past Cherry Avenue as it was taking a right curve in the road where a handful of houses and a winery stand. The car slid northeast through the oncoming lane but spun around so that the passenger side bashed into a hydro pole. The impact was so forceful it broke the pole, thrusting neighbouring houses into darkness. Vanderwiel was killed, Legace taken to Hamilton General Hospital with critical injuries.

Skip Gillham, whose house on a hill looms over the accident scene, was in his kitchen making toast just before 10 p.m. when he heard a loud bang, felt the house shake and had the lights go out.

"On opening the door, I heard cries for help, so I phoned 911."

The cries were from neighbours across the street who had converged outside where the car rested on the front lawn between two homes. By Wednesday afternoon, three bouquets of flowers had been placed on a splinter of the pole that had fallen onto the lawn. Workers, meanwhile, were busy replacing the pole as students dropped off memorials. Crews were fixing wires well into the afternoon though power was restored to nearby residents earlier in the morning. Niagara Regional Police Constable Ted Riehl of the central traffic unit continued interviewing neighbours Wednesday afternoon. He said it could be months before the cause of the crash is known.

The flag at Beamsville District Secondary School flew at half staff Wednesday. Principal Orest Haras delivered the news to students over the PA and read a verse from the Bible. Later in the day, some of those students wore gold ribbons in memory of Candace and still others visited the site of the crash.

Vanderwiel had a full course load and was planning to go to Brock University or the University of Guelph after finishing high school in June. "She was a bright and bouncy personality. A very positive person and a leader," Haras said. "I think that's what causes the shock. She interacted so positively with everyone." She had been looking forward to competing in the national competition and had a great and full life ahead of her, he said.

Wrestling coach Dave Collie said she was an outstanding athlete and very committed, practising five nights a week from November to April. "She had a goal, she set it, she achieved it." Her achievements made her well-known in wrestling circles and he said she would be dearly missed by her teammates and others. "There will be a lot of people teary-eyed across Niagara. Across Canada," he said.

Vanderwiel had been on the team since Grade 9 and was very strong, had good balance and a mental edge. "One of her strengths was she had a winning edge," he said. "She knew how to win. She didn't like losing, but any matches she did lose, she was gracious." This year she was head and shoulders above her opponents, he said, but chose not to be rough or mean-spirited.

Vanderwiel recently won gold at the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association championships in Guelph March 3, competing in the 67.5-kilogram division. It was her fifth time at OFSAA, after placing second and third in previous years. She also placed fourth at the nationals four years in a row.

"I love the sport, love the feeling of winning and using all your muscles and all your strength," she told The Standard in December. At that time, she said she was training extra hard to win OFSAA and medal at the national championships. "A lot of girls are really interested in it now because the image of female wrestlers has changed. People used to think you're a butchy girl if you wrestled -- that was the stereotype. But there's a lot of athletic girls in it because it's a challenge and gets you in great shape," she said.

Friends gathered outside a local strip mall Wednesday said she got other girls involved in wrestling and made it "glamorous." Some of them flipped through yearbook pages Wednesday to find photos for a collage in memory of Candace already being planned for next year's book.

"You can always pick her out of a crowd because she's got the biggest smile," said Abby St. Pierre, a Grade 11 student in cheerleading with Vanderwiel. "Even if she was going through hard times, she would smile," said Keeley Ciszek, 17 and on student council with Vanderwiel. True enough, she is smiling in every picture, whether in front of lockers, on one of her many teams or hamming it up in fake eyelashes and a crown for a dance. Friends said she was a social butterfly and made a point to reach out to new students and make them feel welcome.

The school was eerily empty Wednesday, they said, with some people hugging after the announcement and others leaving for the day. "It's silence. You can see the stunned looks on their faces," said St. Pierre. "Everybody's still not believing it," said Jay Lene, 16, also a cheerleader.

At Commisso's Food Market on King Street, where Vanderwiel worked a shift each week as a cashier, the mood was also sombre. "Everybody here is really down today," said manager Rose Luppino, who had to send an employee home because she was so upset. "She was a good kid. She was always bright and cheery and friendly."

Friends and family will gather for Vanderwiel's memorial service Saturday at 11 a.m. at Beamsville District Secondary School. Visitation will take place today from 7-9 p.m. and on Friday from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at the Tallman Funeral Chapel in Beamsville.

reprinted with permission