Martina’s story: The call that changed our lives forever
by Dwight and Rebecca Levick
Martina was born on a snowy, wintery day in November, 1995. She was a quiet and timid baby, but that was no indicator of the teenager or woman she would become.
Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan, Martina loved to play outside with her older sister and younger brother. They would spend hours on the trampoline, exploring the treeline around the farm, and as she got older, exploring the countryside on snowmobiles and ATVs. While we lived on a cattle ranch, Martina did not enjoy helping with the outdoor chores. From a young age, she would hang out inside to help her mom and learn how to cook and bake. Conveniently, whenever it came time to clean up after all the cooking and baking, she had to go to the bathroom and would disappear until all the dishes were done.
When Martina became a young teenager, her spitfire personality really began to show. She loved to find a new adventure every day, even if it resulted in her getting grounded. Whether it was going out with friends for evening cruises, or throwing impromptu shop birthday parties for herself (stating just a few friends would be coming, but a few ended up being about 50), she was always the life of the party. Martina and her brother loved to go out and hunt prairie chickens after school and she eventually taught him how to shotgun beer like a champion.
While still in high school, Martina began working in the summers for a local resort. This was the start of her dedicated work ethic. As she got older, she began working for a day care centre and a service centre. She found she really enjoyed working with children and took her Early Childhood Educator course to continue growing at the daycare. She wasn’t afraid to tackle any job and excelled at anything she chose to do.
After a few years, she reconnected with her friend Gabe, who lived in Dewberry, Alberta. Their friendship continued to blossom and grew into a relationship. With seven hours of travel between them, Martina decided to move to Dewberry and see how their relationship would grow. When she moved, she began working with the municipal water and waste management department. Eventually her role expanded and she began supporting various other functions within the Village.
June 13th, 2017 was a beautiful sunny day until the call came that changed our lives forever. Martina’s role as the village foreman consisted of maintaining the water and sewage systems, maintaining grass and beautification around the village, and any other tasks required to keep the small village operating. On this fateful day, Martina was working with an industrial lawn mower and had issues with the cutting blades. She lifted the mower with a jack to get under and fix the blades, when the jack gave out, causing the mower to fall on top of her, killing her instantly. She was 21 years old.
On this day, Martina’s mom Gwen was away at a conference, her sister Rebecca was in her second week of her new job, her brother Trevor was just finishing up school and getting ready for final exams and graduation, and I was out cutting grass on my zero turn mower. At around 2:00 p.m. I stopped to check my phone and thought “what is going on?” – missed calls from Alberta, Trevor, and Gwen and a message to call her ASAP.
Thinking “what the heck is going on?” I called Gwen and all she could say was Martina’s gone. Gone where? I said, not realizing what she meant, definitely not prepared for the next statement of “she is dead”.
Instant devastation hit me. Struggling to breathe, I told Gwen I would get home and call her back and start figuring things out.
Heading home on the mower, tears running down my face, I was passing the funeral home where I worked casually. The owner who was a friend and my boss, was outside and thought I was having a heart attack. I choked out what had happened. He took control, drove me home where Trevor had come from school to find out what was going on.
Family, friends, and coworkers made sure we were all together as a family by day’s end to try and make some sense of this needless accident. The evening was spent letting our families know what had happened and making arrangements to go to Dewberry the next day to find out what exactly had happened. When we arrived there, the staff didn’t want us to go to the site, but we insisted. Honestly there was not much to see: the mower, a little medical stuff thrown about and not much else, definitely not many tools or anything to block up a mower to work under safely. Martina’s partner Gabe had been a first responder to the accident. He needed time away, so he packed a bag and came home with us.
It was an extremely tough week for us all but the community support was overwhelming. Martina’s celebration of life was probably the biggest we have seen in our small town of 800 people, with over 100 people from Dewberry making the seven-hour trip to celebrate Martina’s life. An about-face was necessary as three days later was Trevor’s high school graduation and we needed to celebrate him.
The next few years were taken up with investigations. A couple weeks short of two years after the accident, charges were laid against the Village of Dewberry. These charges were possible in part from evidence found on Martina’s phone which showed her employer knew she would be working under the mower and had done so in the past. We hoped there would be accountability now for Martina’s death. Postponement after postponement followed and each time the devastation was brought to the forefront as everything from that eventful day was brought up again. The heartache each time was very tough to deal with and kept dragging on, month after month. Late in 2020, the village which had been Martina’s employer voted to disband and the municipality was taken over by the County. Because Martina’s employer no longer existed and the county government had a good safety program in place, Alberta OHS made the decision not to pursue the case further. It was over just like that. Three years and eight months after devastation struck our family, just like that, everything was done.
A short Zoom meeting was scheduled, because it was COVID time, but it provided no real answers, and no accountability for our daughter’s death. The extensive timeframe for each stage of this process created immense stress and pressure for our family, which we believe contributed to Gwen’s illness, which would later take her away from us as well.
One positive during this time was a safety video created by Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association. In August 2021, AMHSA came out to Porcupine Plain to meet with our family and record the video. We were able to go back out to the family farm where Martina and her siblings were raised and speak more to who she was as a person. We then went to the cemetery and shared more about how this accident has impacted our family.
Another crucial impact for the video included sharing the family lawn-cutting business. We discussed the safety measures that should be taken for specific tasks related to the machines used.
The day the video was released, we were unable to attend due to a family illness, but were later contacted with an update – they told us that there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. We knew from this feedback we made the right call to participate as it would be an impactful training tool for people of all ages.
This video was huge for our family because we are at least able to increase awareness around workplace safety when we knew we would never receive justice or accountability for this senseless accident. Our message is that workplace accidents do not discriminate against anyone, whether by age, sex, career path, etc. Always be mindful of the tasks you are completing and follow all the correct safety measures, whether this be Personal Protective Equipment, or specific processes and steps to complete your work. These are there to keep you as safe as possible when you are on the job site. Nobody is invincible.
The healing journey is not linear. There could be weeks or even months where you will feel fine, and then it can hit you out of nowhere and you never really know what those triggers could be. Our advice is to let yourself feel the pain again, don’t try to bottle it up and mask it as it can result in further health issues down the line.
The hole in our hearts left behind by the grief never goes away; our hearts just grow around it and it becomes part of who we are.
Eight years later, we still reflect on the incredible person Martina was. She lived her life to the fullest extent every single day, living a more full life in her short 21 years than most do in their whole life. Her memory lives in our hearts and in the hearts of so many others.
