Patricia White Hancock still has vivid memories of her brother. She was a little girl when Gatlin White served with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, a guy who would routinely show up with teddy bears and even a children's table and chairs for his sisters at Christmas.
Families hope for Skyway memorial to 'high steel' workers who died on job
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Celeste LeClair-Coleman, whose passion may lead to a monument for three men killed while building the Skyway, holds a picture of her father, Mohawk ironworker Mitch LeClair. Behind her, from left: Mark Weber, whose great-uncle, Daniel Smith, died when he fell from the span; LeClair-Coleman's sisters, Florence "Mickie" Golba and June Mafhoud; Ron Coleman, LeClair-Coleman's husband; Patricia White Hancock and her sister, Jaqueline White Gibson, whose brother Gatlin White also died in a Skyway fall; and Gibson's granddaughter, Elizabeth Keys, 10. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
Newspaper coverage of the death of Gatlin Smith during Skyway construction, 1955. (John Hickey/H/O File Photo/Buffalo News)
Gatlin White, who was only 22 when he fell to his death from the Skyway, as a young man with the 82nd Airborne Division.
A photo of Mitchell LeClair's grandfather Michael LeClair, in old photo. (John Hickey/H/O File Photo/Buffalo News)
Friendship built on loss; A bond was quickly struck during the first meeting ever between families of three men killed during Skyway construction. Left to right: Patricia Ann White Hancock and her sister Jaqueline White Gibson; Mark Weber; and sisters June Mafhoud, Florence "Mickie" Golba and Celeste LeClair-Coleman, all at LeClair-Coleman's home in Buffalo. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
Michael LeClair, a Mohawk of Kahnawake, working in "high steel": He never recovered from seeing his son Mitchell fall to his death, from the Skyway. (Family photo)
Patricia Ann White-Hancock, top, and her sister Jaqueline White Gibson look over news clippings recalling the death of their, Gaitlin, of the Seneca Nation, who fell to his death during Skyway construction. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
A photo of Mitchell LeClair who died in 1955 - and will have them for portrait at 367 Villa Ave., in Buffalo, on Friday, July 26, 2019. (John Hickey/H/O File Photo/Buffalo News)
Cleste LeClair-Coleman holds an image of her dad, Mitchell LeClair, who fell to his death during Skyway construction in 1955: Her efforts brought together, at the same table, relatives of three men who died while the Skyway was being built;. They hope for a civic monument to remember that loss. (John Hickey/Buffalo News)
The subject of whether to keep or do away with the Skyway ignites fierce yes-or-no emotion in Western New York, Kirst says.
In the minority were readers who support demolishing the bridge, while others advocate keeping a piece of it as a recreational "CloudWalk."
