It’s a cloudy day on MT Lemmon here in Tucson. The clouds are left over from last nights rain. I’m sitting here in a Toyota dealership waiting for my Tacoma to be serviced and repaired writing in my blog and I remember my February 2016 drive up Mt. Lemmon and meeting 3 Woman that were sightseeing. My thoughts turned to writing this blog.
Original blog post: http://macaloney.blogspot.com/2016/02/sky-island-scenic-byway-mt-lemmon.html?m=1
This is a story about remembering someone lost in a tragic accident.
There were 3 woman. One was the daughter to the other and the last was the sister in-law to the mother of the younger.
I receive the following comment to my original blogpost above in May of 2017, a little over a year from my original post..
“Hi Brent, I am one of the ladies from Ohio that you met on this day back in February of 2016. I was in AZ vacationing with my teen daughter and sis-in-law. My sis-in-law was the lady with whom you spoke a while regarding politics. I'm sorry to say that my sis-in-law was tragically killed last October while riding her bicycle. Someone drove off the road and killed her and her best friend, who were finishing their daily 20-mile ride. I found your business card and looked up your blog from the day we met. It's a bittersweet memory with my sis-in-law's death. Wishing you many happy and SAFE travels yet to come. Warmest regards, Lonna Hoffman”
An initial news article about how the woman I had met was killed with her bicyclist friend while riding a road in Michigan is directly below.
The following article gives us a look at Lonna Hoffman’s sister in-law Deborah Patterson, who I had met on Mt. Lemmon.
“Deborah Patterson was active and energetic, the sort of person who hurried in and took care of matters, of people.”
Detailed article link below:
Here is a follow up article on improving the road shoulders since the death of Deborah Patterson and her friend.
Here is the details of the above article:
PS. The article above states that 74 year old man that hit and killed Deborah Patterson and her friend paid $1500 in fines and 2 years of probation.
I do much appreciated Lonna Hoffman reaching out to me in my blog. It brings out how someone can be with us enjoying life on Mt. Lemmon one February in 2016 only to be killed a few miles from home in October.
My life as Fire Chief showed me many times how random death can be. When people die all we have are memories of them to keep and share.
Accidents happen. We all know that. We all live with the results of accidents. What comes to my mind is the law that has been adopted in many states, including Michigan, that look for cars passing to keep a 3 foot passing distance. It’s my view that the law doesn’t save lives, it’s the education the law brings that does.
Here is a link to the detailed article:
Check the article to see if your state has accepted the 3 foot clearance when passing a bicyclist. If your state is not listed like my home state of Massachustts, please consider supporting getting it adopted, so we can educate others of the need to keep a safe distance.
Brent
macaloney@hotmail.com
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