EYE ON TRUCKING: Sometimes, it's perfectly okay to stand up and cheer

By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff

4/29/2008

I can still hear it now from my days as a sportswriter.

“NCAA rules prohibit cheering in the press box,” the voice would say over the internal PA system just before kick-off.

As a sportswriter, that rule is so ingrained that even now, sitting in the stands, I usually don’t cheer, even when the home team scores.

There is also an unwritten rule that reporters shouldn’t become emotionally involved in a story they are covering.

Usually, that’s an easy rule to follow.

On rare occasions, it is not possible.

We’re all familiar with Goodyear’s Highway Hero program.

From all the worthy truckers who are nominated each year, Goodyear narrows the field down to four.

A few weeks before the winner is announced at the annual Truck Writers of North America banquet, held in conjunction with the Mid-America Trucking Show, some members of TWNA, including us, are asked to pick the top candidate.

[I don’t use the word winner, because all those nominated are winners.]

This year, the voting was especially hard.

The choices included:

•  Richard Filiczkowski of Bountiful, Utah, a driver for C.R. England, who pulled an 8-year-old Abby Bern from a car sinking in a stock pond. Sadly, her father, 42-year-old Dr. Jeff Bern, died in the accident.

•  Rick Tower, of Yreka, Calif., driver for Earl Bryant Trucking,  who rescued an 82-year-old woman from her sinking car after it left the roadway and landed in the swift Klamath River.

•  David Virgoe, of Innisfil, Ontario, Canada, a driver for Wilburn Archer Trucking, who died after heroically swerving his empty tanker truck to avoid three street-racing cars, slamming into the median guardrail and veering off the highway to avoid colliding with oncoming traffic.  He died in the accident.

•  Ronnie Greene, of Regina, N.M., driver for A. Passmore & Sons, who rescued a pregnant woman from a brutal attack after she was run over by her boyfriend’s truck.

At the conclusion of the banquet, each finalist was called to the platform

Tears seeped from eyes all over the room when Virgoe’s widow ascended the steps to hear Donn Kramer, director of marketing for Goodyear commercial tire systems, tell about her husband’s heroism.

There were lumps in throats as Kramer read the accounts of the other finalists.

Then Kramer announced Filiczkowski as the 2007 Highway Hero.

Richard and his wife Janet, who shares the wheel with Filiczkowski, went forward to accept the honor.

No doubt their thoughts were with Abby and Bern’s wife, Marty. She had invited them to Bern’s funeral, which they attended. While they had remained in contact, they hadn’t seen Marty and Abby since.

“Richard’s name is on the award, but his wife and tandem truck driver Janet is equally deserving,” Kramer said. “Together, their heroics are truly inspiring.  They are a wonderful couple.”

Then Kramer pulled a real Kleenex … or napkin … or shirtsleeve moment.

Marty and Abby were there, he said, waiting just off stage.

Out they ran.

Immediate embraces.

Tears, no, outright crying.

If anyone in the house had a dry eye, something had to be really wrong with them.

It still puts a lump in our throat to write about it.

We have to back away from the keyboard for a second to regain our composure.

But that still wasn’t the end

Each year, we ask Goodyear officials for a one-on-one interview with the Highway Hero.

We wanted to make sure everyone was invited: Richard, Janet, Marty and Abby.

So the next afternoon, Richard, Janet and Marty sat down with us while Abby entertained our photographer and fellow writer Kevin Jones.

It was a bittersweet interview, asking questions, the answers to which we knew would bring emotions to the surface quickly.

And they did.

We can still hear co-driver Janet’s voice, breaking with almost every word as she described how Richard pulled Abby from the car, brought her to shore and handed the soaked, distraught child over.

And then as she described the moment Abby learned her father did not survive, instinctively, Janet and Marty clasped each other’s hands.

Richard and Janet said they’d do it all over again if they ran upon another such accident.

It’s part of their responsibility as truckers, who are constantly on the highway, to watch out for and take care of other folks, they said.

“We’ve seen accidents where we stopped and helped and did the best we could,” Richard said. “It’s the right thing to do. It could be my daughter. I would want someone to try as hard as they can.”

Richard and Janet, who’ve been married only a few years, both have children. Richard’s daughter Arielle is 17. Janet has three children, Jamie, 26, Ryan, 24, and Brent, 21. They have one grandchild, Jayden.

They have a dedicated run, making deliveries to Albertson’s from North Salt Lake City to southern Idaho, then to California and back to North Salt Lake.

Richard’s only been driving three years, Janet two.

They just happened to be in South Dakota, far from that normal run, last April.

They call Abby their angel.

Marty calls the Filiczkowskis her angels.

“There is a reason they were there,” she says.

They’ve named their truck Abby’s Angel.

Right now, their truck is not doing too well. In fact, a couple of days after the award was presented, it was in the shop.

“Right now, we just call her Abby. We say ‘come on Abby, just get us home,’” Janet says with a smile.

Later this year, they plan on getting a new tractor.

When they do, they are going to paint “Abby’s Angels” on the cab.

So when you see that bright red C.R. England truck pass you and you see “Abby’s Angels” on the side, you’ll know you’re passing a real hero.

A hero among the thousands of heroes who carry this country’s freight from point to point, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

So since I’m not in a press box, I’m going to cheer.

Hooray for the Filiczkowskis.

Hooray for Marty.

Hooray for Abby.

And hooray for trucking!