‘Gentle Giant’ Takes His Own Life After Suffering with Stress at Work
A family from Greenmount have gathered together to remember and pay tribute to their 27 year-old ‘gentle giant’ Stanley Waddell who committed suicide after suffering from stress at work.
Mr Waddell was living in Birmingham when he jumped over a fence and into the path of a train at Robin Hood Island in Yardley on October 29.
Stanley was an engineer who was working on the Airbus A350 project and was worried about the safety of the plane.
He was meant to be going to a work conference in Cambridge but instead returned to Birmingham to tell his managers his concerns.
His father Alistair 58 told This is Lancashire: “He was always in touch on the phone and after 9pm that night we received no more communication from him.
“The next thing we knew was the British Transport Police were at the front door to ask for fingerprint evidence because they had reason to believe he had been involved in an incident with a train.
“He was dealing with a lot of stress at work but he only seemed to show the difficulties in those last six hours.”
Stanley was a skilled engineer he received a 2:1 degree from Aston University and went on to work at firms including Goodrich Power System which is now owned by UTC Aerospace Systems on the A350 XWB Airbus project.
He was working on an innovative design which is the first plane to have the fuselage and wingers structures made of carbon. Stanley was working on the design of an innovative electronic thrust reverser this enables the plane to brake on landing.
His mother Joan 60 told This is Lancashire: “All of his friends who spoke to him said he offered them great advice and gave them the confidence to pursue their goals but all that time he doubted his abilities.”
The funeral that was held at the United Reformed Church in Greenmount was also shown simultaneously in the Old School to ensure everyone could be part of the service.
Stanley’s family are encouraging others to donate to the British Red Cross and the Mental Health Foundation.
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