Bad News about bill - Badly Hurt

Checked in on this thread at work today realizing I missed yesterday...
Made for a long afternoon after reading that........ Truly a sad loss

I was looking forward to swapping 400 stories ....

I like the thought of the retired avatar, maybe we can incorporate it into the main page somehow

My sympathies go out to his family, though by the sound of things they will be well taken care of....

Ride free Bill.....

 

Thursday I leave on a 3,000 mile trip. I will be taking a small part of Bill with me. My condolences to the family.

 

R.I.P. Bill. Ride safe and free on those golden streets!
My prayers to his family.

 

May God Bless Bill's family and friends.

I only knew Bill a short time, from this sight, but I could tell he gave honest knoligable advice to anyone who asked. A truely good person

Wish I had know you better Bill, rest in peace brother.........

 

Roger:
Any idea when the memorial would be?

 

I bet Bill is in heaven working on Gods XJ. I hope Chacal can ship up there. Rest in peace Bill you will be missed.

 

My thoughts are with Bill's family.... If I can help let me know.

Ranger, I had a similar idea just haven't had the chance yet.

 

I was very sorry to hear about Bill becoming a Silent Key, I was hoping for better news when I got home today.
He will be missed.

73,
Eric
VE7EES/VA7SQ

 

Diligo per plures in gratia . . . Loved by many in gratitude

This Latin phrase fits Bill to a T.

Bill will be missed terribly by those who have known him in his 52 short years. As hard as it is for us I can only imagine the loss his family feels.

This will not be a popular part of this post but there is another victim here. The lady who made a split second bad decision will have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she inadvertently took someones life. She must somehow find the strength and courage to be a wife, a mother and a contributing member of society. This burden often takes a very heavy toll on individuals.

As much as we will miss Bill let's also remember the lady whose life was also permanently altered by this event.

There was a thread earlier in the week about how we motorcycle riders get the short end when we have an accident. Why are we treated like second class citizens by the law. We aren't. The problem comes in when the price we pay for a collision is so much higher. A left turn in front of a cage by another cage results in a couple wrinkled fenders, or, if at higher speeds then a totaled car. Often times the drivers walk away either unhurt or only mildly injured. The same collision for us is often fatal because we lack the protection of the mass of steel around us. If there are no mitigating factors such as alcohol, drugs, etc. then the penalty is the same in both cases. A citation for an illegal left turn. Or failure to yield. This is one of the risks we assume when we ride. The law is applied the same. The penalty for riders is much more severe. This is OUR risk and not a risk that should be assumed by cage drivers.

Let's remember Bill, his family and the lady who hit him in our prayers.

Loren

 

Well said. Plenty of victims here.

 

Thanks for bringing that up....you are so correct. I would like to offer up another type of memorial to Bill.....a rider safety thread. Yes, I know we have truckloads of this type of stuff peppered throughout the forum here, but I would like to start a thread something like "In Memory of Bill-Rider Safety" where all of us can post our lessons learned, safety and avoidance techniques, and the like, where newbies can go to avoid becoming a Hurt Report statistic, as well as experienced riders can share what works for them, and learn new tricks themselves. What do you guys think?

 

I'm in!

I would like to start a thread something like "In Memory of Bill-Rider Safety" where all of us can post our lessons learned, safety and avoidance techniques, and the like, where newbies can go to avoid becoming a Hurt Report statistic, as well as experienced riders can share what works for them, and learn new tricks themselves. What do you guys think?

 

RIP, Bill.

Wishing your family only the best during this unfortunate time.

 

The memorial will be this saturday at 2 p.m at our church Wakeminster
PM me for directions and i'll be glad to give them to you

 

Condolences to his family and friends from the other side of the world.

A truly nice guy... So sad

 

wamaxim, I was thinking along the same lines of starting a safety thread. I think it couold be as follows

Bill Schmitt Rider Safety

Sub forums could be

Hurt Report
Riding Techniques
Bike safety upgrades
Situational awareness
....
....

Something along the lines above - the sub forums would be good so that one can go directly to what intersts them

 

Rest in peace Bill.

Although we never met in person, I always enjoyed our exchanges.

You will be missed.

 

I think it's a great idea; maybe we can get some response this time. The lack of a forum for this is why I started the "Be the Bunny" thread; we DO need a separate forum for this, especially since our particular "speciality" seems to draw so many first-time riders.

 

Clarification: the originator for the safety thread idea was Captainkirk. I cut and pasted his suggestion without prefacing the paste with "quoted from Captainkirk".

SecaRob and Fitz, what do we do to get this started? This is such a great idea it would be grand to get it going ASAP.

Where to start? Point me in the right direction and I will do what I can as I have a few days off starting today.

Thanks again Captainkirk and please forgive me for the confusion.

Loren

 

Best and most direct way would be to contact the site administrator SnoSheriff or one of the moderators

I would send him a link to this thread and simply ask ....something like...

Can we get a Safety in Riding section?? Could it be structured as follows and dedicated to Bill Schmitt???

Bill Schmitt Rider Safety

Sub forums could be

Hurt Report
Riding Techniques
Bike safety upgrades
Situational awareness

 

To all of Bill's devoted friends,

As stated above, Bill's memorial service is this Saturday August 8th, 2pm, Wakeminister Church.

www.wakeminster.org

I will be asking the family today what arrangments will be made should you wish to send flowers or send a memorial.

I don't know what more to say...I am going to miss him terribly. I find myself thinking I haven't talked to him in a while and I need to give him a call. I can't bring myself to delete his emails from my computer or his phone number from my cell phone. But it cannot compare to the agony his family is feeling. For them this is not over, they will continue to need our prayers, concerns, support, and help.

There has been some discussion in this thread regarding the woman who caused Bill's accident. Bill's family has asked me to express their wish that no animosity be felt or expressed towards her as they feel none. She is not an evil person who woke up in the morning and decided to turn in front of a motorcycle. She was actually arriving for a car pool and may have been looking for an address. It appears from what reconstruction of the accident that could be done, that when she turned, then heard Bill's screeching tires, she may have reflexively hit the brakes thus slowing or stopping her turn making it impossible for Bill to avoid the crash. She and her 12 year old child, who was with her in the van, will be haunted by this and are going through their own anguish. I now wonder how many times I have had brief moments of distraction or inattentiveness when driving that, given the wrong set of circumstances, could have caused me injure myself or someone else? There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Artie(RT)

 

Thanks, Artie, for keeping us posted through this difficult time.

We appreciate you, and please know that we will continue to lift you and Bill's family to the Father in these coming days.

I got on XJBikes yesterday for the first time in quite a while, so I'm still in shock mode after reading about Bill. The reality of the dangers of something we love so much is really hard to deal with sometimes, especially when I think of my wife and kids having to go through what Bill's family is enduring right now.

Take care, brother, and hang in there.

Herb

 

That is why they are called accidents. As someone said before, we are not wrapped up in steel, and we know that. It's a risk we take every time we get on a motorcycle. I'm sure the lady and her child are both extremely upset. Being mad at her doesn't change the situation. And I know Bill is not angry. If anything, he would want to apologize to her for scaring the whits out of her.

I remember when I had my accident and Bill asked "What kind of gloves were you wearing because mine seem to be like yours and I sure don't want my hands to be scraped up like that." And I thought last night "Wonder how Bill's gloves held up" Gloves? WTF why did I think of Bill's gloves? It's funny the stupid things you come up with when you think of someone.

 

I'm weeping as I write this, I've been away since Saturday. Too young Bill was...
Sniff, now to the pieces...
My condolences to the family and I do strongly support a safety forum. It won't stop the accidents but might help to avoid or mitigate them (remember, near misses count!).
I just got an email from one of our other members who left the pavement last week due to a moments inattention and going too fast.
PLEASE be vigilant and courteous out there folks, you never know...

 

For some reason I didn't get a notification on this thread until now - and now Bill has gone 8O

My sincereest condolences to Bill's family and friends.

Like many of us have echoed - I never met Bill, but I felt like I knew him through this forum.

 

I too have tears in my eyes as I type this.
To be effected in this way by the passing of someone I did not personally know says alot.
I feel anger, sadness, that he is gone.
#uck!
It's not right.

 

I have been away of late.
On July 12th my father in law died.
On July 27, my father fell, broke his hip, wasn't expected to survive the surgery being in end-stage organ failure, so I was home last week. I haven't been on the site until just tonight ... and now this ... like others, there are tears on my cheeks as I write this, and I wouldn't be able to say much if I needed to speak. Bill, by all accounts, was a wonderful man and he had been very helpful to me. He was one of the ones I hope (had hoped) to visit eventually.

I am gladdened to hear of his faith in God. I know by this that he is not dead, never will be, but his presence here will be sorely missed by so many.

As a memorial, if I was one of those wealthy people, I'd set up an ongoing contribution for some motorcycle safety course(s) in his memory. Alas, at this point I have to be concerned with where I am going to come up with the money to pay this month's (or last month's) mortgage. I think it would be most excellent to add some sort of tribute to the "home" page of the site - perhaps his icon, linked to something that has a bunch of "Best of BIll" posts, his obit, stories and memories of those who were able to actually meet him, and this thread, that those who come here can be reminded and introduced to this wonderful man.

-

Regarding the driver of the minivan, while she should not be the target of hostility, at the same time I cannot agree with calling her a "victim", except maybe as a victim of her own making.

There is a reason that motorcycles have an "always on" headlight. To avoid such tragedies as this. I don't wish her ill, but she should have the appropriate consequences of "failure to yield right of way", the appropriate penalty for failing to pay proper attention to the road, and ultimately, vehicular manslaughter, visited upon her.

(And it is in this area the bikers are often treated as less than cagers under the law. While the physical consequences are greater to the rider, it does not seem to be the norm that the full legal consequences of the behavior of cagers is visited upon them when they injure or kill a motorcyclist. YMMV)

Yes, her life is altered, by her own actions, and she will need to learn to deal with that. Hopefully, it will help her to become more than she was in the past.

But far more have the lives of Bill's family and friends been altered - a widow who will now have to finish her life without her partner, lover, friend ... A father who will never be there for his grandchildren, ... It will be a while, I expect, before his wife, or the others he touched so closely, will be able to continue life with the same joy they had while Bill was with them.

Okay, my two cents.

Bill, at some point, I will join you, and hopefully you will have a bike waiting for me so we can go out for a nice, long ride.

with deepest regards,
Michael

 

Some will raise their voices in anger.
Others will seek a quiet place where they will retreat to grieve.
All of us want to do "Something"; but what best to do is confusing.

There is NO one with the capability of beginning to understand why this tragedy has befallen, taking our good friend away from his family at home and this one, online.

That which is said to provide some reasoning and comfort, is true, but to those closest to this tragedy only serve to confound our mortal minds which are totally unprepared to deal with this kind of hurt in our lives.

"The Lord works is strange and mysterious ways!"

 

May our Missing Man, ...
Rest in Peace

We shall all carry-on in your memory.

 

"The Lord works is strange and mysterious ways!" - that is an incomplete thought.

The Lord works is strange and mysterious ways - to redeem us from the consequences of our sins and failings.

I strenuously object to the platitudes of "God has chosen to take him ...", "It was God's will", or the worst I can think of right now, "God needed another angel in heaven."

Understanding why this tragedy happened, to me, is very understandable. Human choice, human action, which God created to be able to act whatever way man might choose, even in ways contrary to God's will. It wasn't Bill's "time". God didn't cut the thread from the loom and say, "that is the end for Bill. God was weeping alongside of Bill's family. God was (will be) weeping beside the driver of the minivan when the enormity of what happened, what she had *caused*, the tragedy she brought about, fell/falls upon her. Do not say it was God's will. God's will is that NONE of his children know tragedy. That is something we have brought unto ourselves. Gracefully, without any merit of our own, God uses those tragedies to bring us to redemption. He will bring something good out of it, we need to watch and listen with expectancy to see what He will do to redeem the situation. It may be that someone who was previously less than attentive will determine to be more attentive, to refuse to engage in distracting behaviors, thereby averting another tragedy. Many have already expressed how this has helped change their driving. Perhaps more will install a modulator on their headlights, get HiViz clothing or coats thereby averting tragedies. Who knows exactly how God will bring something wonderful out of the loss of Bill to us, but He will, even as He welcomes Bill into what we know of as Heaven.

We may never see the redemptive value God gives to the loss of Bill to us, but for those of us who know God, we can rejoice in the certain knowledge that He WILL!

Sorry for preaching, but I didn't spend those years in seminary or decades in worship and study to naught.

 

To all,

I have asked the family about memorials or flowers for Bill. Flowers may be sent to

Wakeminster Church
13221 Old Creedmoor Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27613.

In lieu of flowers, if you wish memorial contributions may be sent to the same address and designated for the church building fund in Bill's name.

A reminder, the memorial is at 2pm, Saturday, August 8.

Artie(RT)

 

Bill will surely be missed

I would like to know if anyone is making mamorial patches for Bill. I wouldn't know where to start but I want one for my vest. the proceeds can go to his family. Any thoughts?

 

God in His fore knowladge did know when Bill would go tho, some times folks get that confused as God actuly taking some out, in which case He did to Ananias and Saphira. Acts 5

 

Tumbleweeds statement may be true, but doesn't God know when everyones number is up?

 

Ya thats what I just said in the above post. He sure does know. And also All things work together for good for those who love the Lord. Rom 8:28
All things including deaths. God will use Bills death for His good and bring others to Himself God (Jesus). So Bills family even tho they grieve now, they know they will literaly be with their dad one day in Glory and that knowladge gives the believer comfort to know this truth during these hard and difficult times.

 

Of course, as we understand things, as God has been revealed to us, He knows all that has happened, is happening, and will happen. But that doesn't make him the Cause or to blame. When you take the training wheels off your child's bike, knowing they will fall down and be injured, are to blame?

I'd be happy to discuss this further, but not in this thread. Any interested can join me here:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... tml#170063

 

Ok you guys are getting a little to deep for me, on that note, out.

 

I know a guy who does embrodery (sp?) for my gun club and as a business. I can see what he'd be able to do. Are we talking about using his Avatar? PM me if anyone is interested.

 

The patch idea is a really interesting one. I would suppose we'd want to talk to his family about it? I'd think they'd at least like to know.

 

Bills Obituary is in our local newspaper. Here is a link to it, there is a section to leave your comments. I know Bill had a positive impace on many of us, let his family know.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsob ... =131014927

 

Artie, please extend my (our) condolences to the family.

Like many on here have said, I wish there was something tangible I could do for the family. I can't send flowers, they'll only die and there'll be a need for yet another funeral, and I can't give money to a church. Did send a card though.

 

Rest in peace Bill.

 

mlew,

Thanks for posting that link.

mikeg

 

Since fixing my Seca up a few years ago, my time in these fora has been scarce and I've somehow missed the pleasure of getting to know Bill. Nonetheless, I'm very saddened to read of his passing. Condolences to his family and friends.

As for driver awareness, my thumbnail has been painted black for two weeks now since I found out about The Black Nail Brigade: http://blacknailbrigade.com It's a pretty good awareness campaign, IMO, and I've already gotten to talk to a few dozen people about why I've painted my nail and what they, as drivers, can do to help. Just something to consider.

R.I.P., Bill.

 

My condolences to his family and to this community. We have lost a truly good one.

Pegs Down.

Ken

 

i've still been keeping up with this thread and i mentiond the patch idea to my uncle..and it seems that me and him are getting tattoos in honor of my father so jst a thought your patch could be the same sorta design as our tattoos or not its all up to you guys.

 

The only thing that comes to my mind right now is the relationship factor people had with Bill for the patch's theme/graphics. Maybe Steven and his uncle will choose to go with a more personal theme for the graphics in their tattoo. It may not be appropriate for a bike forum relationship with Bill, in the most part. A safety/awareness platform and/or XJ theme would serve the community and Bill's passion with honor, purpose and cause.

 

Once you get the tats, post up a shot and maybe someone can run with it from there..

 

This: "Badly Hurt" Thread is closed.

New Thread: "In Fond Memory of Bill Schmitt"