Bus drivers to remember a favorite passenger -- and friend
Amid all the other traffic on that busy street, a speeding
Chevy Blazer was headed her way.
She held a box of chicken from the restaurant across the
street. She had a monthly bus pass. She probably had a pack of gum to give her
bus driver, because that's what she liked to do.
It was just before 2 p.m. on Saturday.
What happened next, you may have seen in the news -- the
76-year-old woman run down on the sidewalk, and the SUV driver charged with
reckless homicide and causing a traffic death while intoxicated.
This is about what happened before Saturday.
Maude was her name, but everybody called her Sam. She had
the mental capacity of a 12-year-old. You could call that a deficiency, but
friends saw instead the smile and enthusiasm of a happy child.
Some of her best friends were city bus drivers. She rode the
bus just to have something to do sometimes, and they looked after her.
When Sam had trouble handling her money, driver Jeannie
Kemerly stepped in. She organized things and put Sam on a budget, so she could
live on her own and not have to go to an institution.
Sam became an honorary member of the family. Because
Kemerly's three daughters had boys' nicknames -- Charlie, Oscar and George --
she wanted one, too. And that's how she became Sam.
When Kemerly died last year, one of her daughters, Cheryl
Yarnell, took over as unofficial guardian, helping Sam remain independent.
On Thanksgiving and Easter, Sam could usually be found at
the home of another IndyGo driver, Rhuperdia Chandler.
"I try to help everybody, but I loved Sam. She was
family," Chandler said. "She loved everybody. I've never known
anybody like her before."
Chandler heard about the crash while getting ready for
church Sunday morning. IndyGo called her at home because police were contacting
Sam's family of bus drivers trying to find the woman's real relatives.
She does have a brother and a sister. But both are in other
cities and in poor health. So bus drivers were pitching in for a memorial
service today.
It's at Shirley Brothers Irving Hill Chapel, 5377 E.
Washington St. Visitation is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a memorial service at
7.
That's only a block from the spot where Sam died. Friends
have put up some red and pink artificial flowers and a toy mouse on a utility
pole.
Sam had been standing next to the pole, waiting for her bus.
The impact from the Blazer knocked her 60 feet. The thought of that made it
hard for Chandler to sleep this week. More than anything, she hoped that Sam
didn't suffer. Maybe, she hoped, her friend never even saw the truck.
Police said the Blazer was traveling at least 51 mph -- 75
feet per second.
It went onto the sidewalk just a few feet before the pole.
In other words, everything happened in a split second.
In a cloud with no silver lining, the friends of Sam had to
settle for this:
She lived a good life. Then, thank God, it ended before she
knew it.
By John Strauss
The Indianapolis Star
May 2, 2003
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