My late husband John could drive anything! He rode and trained horses, he drove tractors, taxis, sightseeing buses, limousines, motorcycles—really anything. He was born in Wisconsin but traveled to Washington, D.C. when he was recruited for a well-known corporation. I need to mention he also had an electronics degree. He hated it office work!  At this point he discovered the world of couriers…you can imagine what it would be like flying through D.C. traffic to the Pentagon, or being allowed access to the State Department on a bike! Now this, he liked, but, John being John, he made his job more dangerous, deciding to become one of the first motorcycle couriers in the city.

Ironically, someone so comfortable behind the wheel would nearly die in car accident. Hit and run. He was broken, literally almost every bone in his body was smashed and he also had severe internal bleeding. He had a long road to recovery and one of his old D.C friends sent an ambulance and brought him to Philadelphia, where she now lived. After a long rehab, he found work as a cab driver; the hours and the freedom suited him. He liked to work South Street, where I worked at J.C. Dobbs, the legendary rock bar. We met, we clicked, we married.

Now the one thing John had not driven was a Big Rig, a cab with a 40 ft. trailer. He had always wanted to be a long-haul trucker, so he went to school to get his commercial driver’s license. When got his CDL, he was so excited. He was hired immediately and his first haul was from Philadelphia to L.A. To commemorate his first long haul, on his return trip, he bought this ring at an Indian Reservation in Nevada. John’s trucking career was cut short, when he got sick in 1991. He could not take his medicine and drive responsibly, so he turned in his beloved CDL. A combination of chronic pancreatitis and spinal stenosis left him disabled, unable to drive anything, and walking with a cane. John passed away suddenly 5/5/16, at 62. I’ll tell you he crammed a lot of living in those 62 years. We were just shy of our 29 year wedding anniversary when he died. We spent our entire marriage here in Philadelphia. Funny, this ring he wore every day for almost 30 years would end up at the airport, I forgot, he could fly too!