Losing someone can be unnerving to any family member that you love. Moreover, losing them to a senseless accident makes a person rethink what happened. And “what-ifs” emerge as if the accident could somehow have been stopped. Within our industry alone, we have had so many good people that were lost due to the dangerous job we do for the public. Sometimes the public realizes their responsibility but sometimes they don’t. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about several people that we’ve lost over the years. That was our intention at the recent, 2024 Midwest Regional Tow Show, to mention our industry loss. At this convention, the Thursday night event was an evening of remembrance for those that attended the Family Towing Affair in the Celebration of Life/Slow Down Move Over Awareness Event. My car was the 5th or 6th vehicle in line for the parade of trucks, vans and cars that participated in this event. The parade came together at the front of Robert’s Center in Willington, Ohio and probably took the parade management over 6 1/2 minutes to get all of us, over 50 tow trucks with flashing lights, from the parking lot into line at a nearby street.
As was planned, we drove a few miles down into the neighboring town and came back to the show via another route. After the parade finished, we joined together for a wonderful, scrumptious pig roast which was sponsored by INA Towing Network. The group enjoyed all the fixings until we couldn’t eat anymore. The atmosphere was like a large family, sitting down together. The pictures will show you some folks decorated their tow trucks with lights flashing. Others, like mine, sported banners and signs of towers who were killed. Everyone who saw the parade either moved over or stopped in their lane as if it was a real funeral procession. Those driving vehicles or on the sidewalk observed vehicles in the parade with solemn respect and their respect was greatly appreciated.
On my car, I represented Bobby Unruh, Linda Unruh’s only son who was killed. Bobby was only 38 years old when he was hit by the driver of a loaded tractor-trailer. The driver of the trailer hit Bobby without slowing down and caused his truck to travel 300 feet before he began to stop. Due to the force of that tractor-trailer’s impact, Bobby was instantly killed. It was my honor to be a part of this celebration of life in honor of Bobby Unruh who left behind a daughter and two sons.
On the next day of the show, we did our Candlelight Vigil where at the end of the Trade Show the floor closed and all of us gathered in the lobby of the exhibit area. Matt Spencer and I spoke to the group, honoring the 2024 Wall of the Fallen. Matt’s son, Keagan Spencer was killed this past year. Matt detailed with tears in his eyes about what happened to his son. It showed me and others just how fragile life really is. Last month, on the front cover of this publication, names were listed of those lost who are being remembered this year. In fact, the loss reached my city as well when Frank Ingram, a neighbor of mine from Georgia was killed less than 5 miles from my home. It was a very sad situation and a tragedy that could have been avoided.
Getting back to Matt Spencer, here’s some background information on what he revealed about his son. Matt told those gathered, “Keagan was a third-generation tower and Keagan was in a tow truck from the moment he was born.” Unfortunately, Keagan was only 25 years old when he was killed. Shortly after Keagan was killed, we had Matt on a podcast to help promote the Slow Down Move Over Law. You might remember that Keagan had his one and half year-old daughter, Nona that fateful afternoon in the cab of his truck with her packed diaper bag full of bottles and everything a child could need. Keagan had parked his truck off the side of the road and was trying to help a dog that was running down the highway. Without notice, poor Keagan was struck and killed by a distracted driver.
After Matt Spencer finished speaking, I challenged everyone that these great people should not have died in vain. Bobby Unruh died on May 11th, 2017. Unfortunately, the New Mexico State Police did not issue a citation to the driver of the tractor trailer that killed Bobby. However, due to the tenacity of Linda Unruh getting the Governor of New Mexico to sign the bill, Bobby’s Law was created in the State of New Mexico. Linda, I know it must have been hard to endure such a loss but thank you for leading the charge for Bobby’s Law.
Life is fleeting, and at a moment notice, someone we love, and respect can be gone from this world. Let’s remember those towers that have given their lives for this industry. We can do this in each of our states by changing or adding laws that will protect all towers who just want to return home at the end of the day.
See you on the next podcast.
