Marilyn Davidson Elliott - The Blind Mechanic: The Amazing Story of Eric Davidson, Survivor of the 1917 Halifax Explosion

When I was just a little girl, I realized that my father was a special person. Not only because he was my father and I adored him, but because whenever we were out in public people gravitated to him. He was like a magnet. People wanted to shake my fathers hand and speak with him and they were always smiling and happy to be around him. It became routine. In time, I came to know that my father was not just specialhe was extraordinary.

My father, Eric Davidson, was a survivor of the Halifax Explosion. As a toddler he was blinded when the munitions ship Mont Blanc exploded in Halifax Harbour on December 6, 1917.

From childhood, my father dreamed of becoming an automobile mechanic. He was denied the opportunity to formally train at a trade school because he was blind. Not willing to accept this rejection as defeat, he schooled himself and worked for years honing his skills to become a qualified auto mechanic. His determination was rewarded. Dad had a successful career as an accomplished auto mechanic for the City of Halifax for twenty-five years.

How Dad chose to live his life and how he overcame the challenges of living in absolute darkness for ninety-two years is nothing short of remarkable. He embraced life and faced each day with a positive attitude, fortitude, and most assuredly with grace and humour. By approaching life as he did, Dad lived a very full and rewarding life.

My father was not willing to be a victim of the Halifax Explosion. He did not consider himself disabled and the word disabled was never used in our home to describe our father. Dad was ambitious and fiercely independent although he said he was just plain stubborn. Most of all, Dad just wanted to be an ordinary man and enjoy all the wonders that life had to offer.

A steadfast North Ender all of his life, Eric Davidson was an iconic figure, being one of the most recognized survivors of the Halifax Explosion as he walked the city streets with his white cane. Local people who did not know him personally knew him as the man who was blinded in the Explosion or as the blind mechanic.

Dad was never bitter about his handicap. The fact that he was blinded was of small consequence to him for he believed his family was lucky to survive the Halifax Explosion. When he was interviewed for the A&E television program Sea Tales in 1992 he said, We were all injured and we all recovered and we were one of the luckiest families in the city, I think.

My father did not seek recognition; it found him. It was most unusual for someone without sight to have a career as an auto mechanic and to accomplish all the things that my father did in his lifetime. The media, like everyone who met Dad, were fascinated by him for he was truly a phenomenon. They recognized that his story of survival and accomplishment was one of great public interest.