Havaff Part Dix
May 17 2021
(Edited: November 26, 2025)
While we’re on the subject of near death experiences, I beg to submit the
following: Another time when I almost lost my life was when I was runover by a 1950 Standard Vanguard.
Praise The Lord, for sparing my life, in 1960, seven months after my adoption was finalized. ‘Twas then that my Adopted Parents should have been charged with negligence for leaving me behind, a five year old, to be runover by a car. Outside the P.N.E. grounds. After I stopped rolling on the pavement, I got up & walked back to where my shoe fell off, picked it up, and continued to cross the street. After going to the hospital by ambulance, I puked in the backseat of the taxi. Just for reference, the two wheels on the Portside, went across my stomach. (True Story!) I suffered two bruises to my pelvis bones, and a scrape to my belly, while the driver received a fine & a six month suspension of his driver’s. licence. They threw the book at him! It is also quite possible that the car (1950 Vanguard) was a Right Hand Drive, which would put my legs under the Portside. I hung onto the Port-Bow, hoping the driver would see me, it failed and I fell under the wheels. I got up so another car wouldn’t get me & picked up my shoe, so I wouldn’t be sent back to get it.
I have a distant cousin in California who researches Family History & Newspaper Archives. I asked him to research my Runover Accident for a Newspaper Article to back up my story on Part Dix. It turns out there was no such article in Vancouver. What he did find was a classified ad listing a 1950 Vanguard for sale, three months after my mishap. Upon finding this advert there was a contact name to be reached by telephone. Further research found a man by the same name in Ontario (Hamilton) who died being Crushed between two trucks. Makes sense that he would leave Vancouver, after losing his licence for Six months. In another Province he could regain a Driver’s Licence thus avoiding the penalty in British Columbia. Crushed during a freezing rainstorm Mr. Savie was taken to hospital and after surgery, he succumbed some 12 hours after the accident. This Accident of Mr. Savie occurred six or seven months after the accident that I walked away from.
If my guts had been strewn all over the road, there would have been a newspaper story, although somewhat graphic. I guess a miraculous escape from death doesn’t count for much.
U.N.B.C.
November 21, 2025
Original Classified Ad: The Province, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • Tue, Nov 15, 1960 • Page 24
Mr. Savie Article: The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada • Tue, Mar 7, 1961 • Page 7
