An incredibly successful tribute to Bearcat Murray and fundraiser for Big Hill Haven ended on a tragic note Friday evening (April 27).

At around 10:15 pm Friday night, Cochrane RCMP responded to a two-vehicle collision on Highway 22 near Township Road 274 that left both drivers deceased. 

While RCMP is still investigating the incident, news of one of the drivers has been made public. 

68 year old, Bob Campbell, Secretary for Big Hill Haven, has been identified as one of the drivers involved in the horrific collision. Bob was on his way home from the Bearcat Murray Tribute that evening where he shared a table with other members of Big Hill Haven.

Robyn Bujold, Bob's daughter, says he was an amazing man who lived life simply, enjoyed travelling and was always willing to give. "He lost his wife almost 6 years ago to the day, May 2nd was the anniversary of her passing, and since she has passed he has been enjoying retirement and helping others. He never missed any of my girls' ringette games or mine. He was involved in Cochrane Rigette, he worked with PADS service dogs as a puppy raiser and he sat on countless amounts of boards most of them helping with their financials. Anything he could be involved with he would help out and he enjoyed that."

Robyn shared the tragic news on social media Saturday so they could get the word out. "He was involved in so much and this weekend in particular. When I was notified, I thought what does he have coming up that needs to be taken care of because he doesn't like to let people down and I wanted to make sure people weren't looking for him and feeling he had let them down. I said to the police officer, I don't even know how to contact everybody because there is so many and I don't where to begin and so that is why after we took  time and contacted the immediate family members, we did something on his Facebook page and our's to try and get word out to all these different groups that he is an important part of, to allow the word to travel."

Margaret Van Tighem, co-founder of Big Hill Haven, says news of the collision has left the board shocked, devastated and shattered. "Bob was the first board member and we didn't know what we were getting. I knew he was a retired CA, Chartered Account but I didn't know the skills he brought or knowledge he brought to the table. For the last year, he has been helping to get the policy and procedures done, business plan done, getting our CRA number; Bob was working fulltime hours sometimes just to get that done for us. He was an invaluable member of our board, he was one of the people who would go above and beyond every time and volunteer whenever he was asked."

The night of the tribute/ fundraiser Bob was so excited, shares Margaret, one due to the event's success and two because he was a sports fan. "He was just beaming when we left the event and he was so excited we had raised that much money for the shelter. It was really important to Bob to be at this sport's event because he was a sports man and he really admired Bearcat and what he did."

Bob was invested in Big Hill Haven as much as the co-founders stated Margaret. "He believed in what we were doing and he is a family guy. For Bob, family was everything and he had gone through his own share of tough times and he wanted to help people going through theirs. But the biggest thing was his family values, it was important to help families and that is what he did."

A GO FUND ME has been set up in Bob's name with all monies going to support Big Hill Haven which Robyn shares her dad would have wanted. "When we decided to do the go fund me we thought who do we choose and why? It came down to a lot of the groups he was with are established and this one is trying to get off its feet and it was the last event he was at."

Margaret and the rest of the Big Hill Haven board are incredibly touched with the family choosing the shelter as an organization of choice considering all the initiatives he was involved with. 

Details of Bob's service are forthcoming and will be open to the community at large. If you would like to make a donation in Bob Campell's honour go HERE.