Wisconsin woman remembers father lost in Edmund Fitzgerald sinking 51 years ago

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A Wisconsin woman is remembering her late father, who was one of the 29 men killed when the Edmund Fitzgerald ship sank 51 years ago in Lake Superior. “My dad was a big guy, but he was a teddy bear. He rarely disciplined, he was a big hugger, and a very loving father,” said Debbie Gomez-Felder. Oliver Champeau, also known as Buck, was originally from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He eventually made his way to Milwaukee where he met Gomez-Felder’s mother. As a merchant marine, Champeau would be gone for weeks, even months at a time. “He was on the ships forever, so he wasn’t around a lot for holidays and birthdays and things like that,” Gomez-Felder said. “It was very hard. I feel for him, it was a very lonely life. But for us, too.” Eventually, Champeau found himself employed as the Third Assistant Engineer on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

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