In Memory of Gerry T.

Today I lost a friend and co-worker.

Always the first to arrive at work, Gerry usually had some comment as I strolled in to sit in the cube next to him. There are a few of us that get in at 7am and are usually toting coffee and still asleep. Gerry would have just ridden his bike 25 miles and was awake since 5am. He'd say 'Skowronski I beat you in again and I rode today'. Gerry was an enthusiastic cyclist. Not a hugely athletic guy but there is no one that could keep up with him on a bike. He rode to work everyday that it wasn't raining. And since he lived in my town I know how long of a ride it is. And of course he could never take the main roads because they are too crazy so he always was going miles out of his way to stay safely away from traffic. His ride to work was 50 miles round trip yet he always beat everyone into the office.

Gerry was the guy in all colored lycra with the $7000 bike(s) who rode like he was training for the Tour de France. He put in 300-350 miles a week riding with a group of guys that train hard everyday. He usually took Sunday off unless he was doing a casual ride. If you call 50 or so miles on a bike casual?

Well, Sunday was apparently one of his casual rides with his iPod on and riding a route he has ridden a thousand times before. The train tracks he was hit on are in the middle of nowhere. Everyone that knew Gerry is in a state of shock today as we sit at our desks and pretend to work. So many questions run through your head. How could he have not seen the train? Why was he listening to his music so loudly that he couldn't hear the train warning whistle? What kind of impeccable timing for him to come across the tracks in the middle of nowhere in an intersection that probably hadn't seen a car in an hour or so before he rode through it. The why's and how's with be with us for a long time.

Gerry was just out on a casual ride, zoning out, listening to music and travelling down a path he's been down many times before...except this time there was something slightly different and it took a tragic turn.
Gerry leaves behind a wife, child and newborn baby. My heart goes out to them!

I hope they can get on with life knowing their father/husband loved them very much and was a pretty cool guy who was liked by all.
Read the Tribune article...

Read the St. Charles Sun article...