Good friends and cousins Callon Cardinal and Shawn Cardinal were together through their life until the end, when a rollover in Saddle Lake claimed their lives early on Wednesday morning, and critically injured a third friend.
“They were known by many. They had many friends, many loved ones,” said Sandra Cardinal of her nephews Callon and Shawn, following the fatal accident.
Shawn’s aunts were full of laughter and tears recalling the 27-year-old’s tendency to crack jokes all the time, whether it was making prank calls to them pretending to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, wearing bunny ears and bow-ties through a party, or driving with his kookum and blasting heavy metal out the windows. “He was real outgoing,” said his aunt Jenn McGilvery, while his aunt Ash Cardinal simply said with a smile, “He was crazy.”
The man who referred to himself as “Sizzle” or the “Siz,” touched a lot of lives with laughter and friendship, they said.
Callon was going to turn 28 on Oct. 28, his royal birthday for which he had big plans, his aunt Sandra said. “He wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday – he never got a chance to go to Vegas.”
She described her nephew, an apprentice pipefitter, as a gentle giant. At 6’6’’, he towered over most people, but didn’t use his size to intimidate or dominate anyone. “He was our big teddy bear . . . he was a very soft-hearted, gentle man.”
News of his and Shawn’s death came as a shock to the families. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said, her voice breaking. She knew Callon had lunch with his father earlier that day, but the family still doesn’t know much about what happened in the hours before the accident.
At about 12:45 a.m. on Oct. 8, RCMP responded to the scene of an SUV rollover, near the intersection of Highway 652 and the north/south road of Saddle Lake.
“We were on scene within minutes of it happening,” said RCMP Sgt. Tim Kelly, adding RCMP had been patrolling the area when they received the report of the rollover.
Callon and Shawn, along with a third friend, had been ejected from the vehicle, with the two men being pronounced dead on the scene. The third injured man was taken to the local hospital and from there, was airlifted to an Edmonton hospital with serious injuries, according to an RCMP press release.
An RCMP collision re-constructionist had attended the scene, and analysis has shown that speed was a factor in the crash, said Kelly. It appeared likely that the three men were not wearing seatbelts, resulting in their ejection from the vehicle, he said.
When speaking about the family’s loss last week, Sandra noted the deaths cast a shadow over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. “The community has come together in this time,” she said, noting the family had a lot of support and wishes from the many people who were “devastated” by the boys’ passing, including Callon’s co-workers and friends.
“Two young men – they had a lot of friends,” Sandra said. But as Shawn and Callon stayed close in life, they would be close in death too, with plans to bury the two beside one another. “They’ll be having a double funeral. On Sunday, they will be brought home.”
