WINNIPEG — Known as the Homeless Hero, Faron Hall had saved two people from the Red River but Tina Fontaine’s family believe he rescued a third.
Hall’s body was pulled from the Red River on August 17, 2014. Hours earlier, when crews were searching for his body, they discovered Tina’s in the water.
RELATED: Winnipeg’s ‘homeless hero’ Faron Hall found dead in Red River
“He saved two lives when he was alive and one soul after,” Thelma Favel, Tina’s great aunt said. “If it wasn’t for him…we may not have found Tina.”
After it became public that Fontaine’s family was struggling to pay for a headstone, donations poured in. A Winnipeg company donated the headstone for Tina and so the Favel family decided to use that money to buy a stone for Faron and then give the rest to the church
RELATED: Headstone marks a year since Tina Fontaine’s body found
Favel tells Global News Tina’s family is also thinking of Faron as they mark one year since Tina’s body was discovered.
Hall left an impression on quite a few people in Winnipeg.
He gained fame in May 2009 when he jumped into the Red River to rescue a 19-year-old man who had fallen from the Provencher Bridge.
A few months later, in September 2009, he made another leap into the fast flowing water to save a 19-year-old woman. Another man also jumped in but was swept away and drowned.
Hall, who was about 50-years-old, was an alcoholic who was living under the Provencher Bridge in 2009. He received awards from the mayor and Lifesaving Society for his bravery, and made attempts to beat his addiction and find a place to live. But he frequently had trouble, falling back into addiction, suffering a beating, and winding up in jail in 2011 after assaulting a woman he had approached for money.
LISTEN: Former mayor Sam Katz talks about his memories of Faron Hall:
“Faron was a very humble individual, very giving, a bright person and he just wanted to live life his way,” said Sam Katz, who stayed in touch with Hall after he had given him the Mayor’s Medal of Valour.
Katz is now helping to raise $100,000 to build a monument at The Forks, close to the Esplanade Riel, to honour Hall.
“I would hope Winnipeggers and all Manitobans would understand the significance of Faron Hall and hopefully they would want to make a contribution small or large,” Katz told Global News Monday. “It would certainly be a wonderful way to honour a very special man.”
Donations are being accepted through the Forks Foundation. If you want to contribute you can write Faron Hall on your donation cheque.
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