'A heart of gold': Teenage worker who died at wastewater plant remembered as caring

A friend is remembering a young construction worker who died on the job in Fredericton last Thursday as "a caring and down to earth person."

Eighteen-year-old Michael Henderson died Thursday in a workplace accident at the Barker Street wastewater treatment plant on the north side.

No information has been released about what happened at the plant, where a construction crew was installing a secondary clarifier, a settling tank where liquid waste or sewage is held.

A giving friend

One of Henderson's best friends, Jenna Crocker, said he loved everybody for who they were.

"It didn't matter what time of day it was, if you needed him, he was there for you," said Crocker, who went to high school with Henderson.

"He had a heart of gold. He would give his shirt off his back for anybody."

Henderson graduated from Fredericton High School earlier this summer.

Played for FHS football team

Crocker said her favourite memory of him was going to prom together as friends.

"I loved Michael as a brother. He was always there for me and I am truly, truly hurt by it. I was devastated Friday morning when I found out."

Henderson played football for the FHS Black Kats.

"It was always a pleasure to see him play, because it was what he loved to do," Crocker said. "He loved being outside and with his team members and everything like that."

She said she hopes people will remember Henderson's personality, humour and his kind heart.

"It was never a dull moment with Michael around.

He was going on to live his dream, you know, doing what he loved and just in the flash of an eye, he was gone.- Jenna Crocker, friend of Michael Henderson

"He never had an angry face on or was mad. He always had a smile and was always happy and cheerful."

The obituary for Michael Anthony Henderson said he was "taken to heaven by God so very very young for reasons we know not."

A coroner's inquest will be held into the death, which is mandatory when an accident happens at a construction site.

The stop-work order has still not been lifted at the construction site. 

There will be no funeral for Henderson, but visitation at McAdam's Funeral Home is scheduled for Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.  to 9 p.m. and at Andrew L. Hodges Funeral Home on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.  

Crocker said she will always remember Henderson as a true friend.

"He was going on to live his dream, you know, doing what he loved and just in the flash of an eye, he was gone."