Joel Melnikoff
Joel Melnikoff
Monday, July 3, 2006
Age: 49
Location:
Route 32
Feura Bush
Albany
United States
From the sign attached to his ghost bike:
Joel Melnikoff was a very special person, remembered with love and admiration by his family, friends and colleagues, veteran patients and athletic community. He was a careful and experienced bicyclists who was killed here by an intoxicated motorist.
He did not deserve to die this way.
From Adirondack Sports and Fitness
Goodbye Joel
On Monday, July 3, Joel Melnikoff of Slingerlands was enjoying a bicycle ride on a rural stretch of NY Route 32 in Feura Bush that’s popular with cyclists. It was a gorgeous day to be preparing for an upcoming bicycle tour. We know he was training for this event because we spoke just three days earlier, when he called Darryl to get his advice on choosing the right tour. With Darryl’s input, Joel decided on the Bon Ton Roulet through the Finger Lakes and was preparing for the seven-day, 350-mile endeavor.
Around 10:45 am, Joel was riding when a drunken driver drove onto the shoulder and smashed her SUV into him and the guardrail. Her Ford Explorer dragged and pinned him down. Firefighters raised the vehicle off him, and Joel Melnikoff, 49, was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities charged Darlene Kawczak, 51, of Feura Bush with DWI after she failed field sobriety tests and more charges are pending. She was arraigned, released and is expected to return August 1. Joel’s funeral was Friday, July 7, in the Mendleson Chapel at Beth Emeth Cemetery in Loudonville. Many family members, friends and coworkers gathered to pay their respects and remember him.
Joel and Darryl first met in 1987 while participating in the American Lung Association’s Inaugural TransAmerica Bicycle Trek from Seattle to Atlantic City. (Joel completed the 3,400-mile ride with no flat tires!) Their easy-going attitude, sense of humor and passion for the outdoors led to a continued friendship. Joel and Darryl shared many adventures together including hiking, bicycle touring and skiing. Team triathlons led to some hilarious stories (especially if it involved paddling) with Joel’s wife, Sue, swimming, Darryl biking and Joel running. An avid runner and longtime HMRRC member, Joel helped Darryl train for his first New York City Marathon.
Joel was always a part of our family’s milestones and we were there for his family too. He was a member of our wedding party, he helped us move into our home, and he and his family visited us in the hospital when our son was born. He loved his wife, Sue, and was dedicated to his children, Matt and Abby. At his funeral, his friend Jay remembered that every conversation included a mention of his children. Joel was very active in their lives and was always so proud of them.
He was employed as a physical therapist at the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany for more than 20 years. He cared deeply for his patients. One of his responsibilities was teaching disabled veterans how to drive with a modified car. He felt that greater independence was important for their healing and quality of life.
The loss of Joel is a tragedy. As cyclists (or runners), we can be doing everything to be safe and obey the rules of the road, but unfortunately when we head out, we are at the mercy and whim of whomever decides to get behind the wheel. The only solace we can find is that Joel was optimistic about life and was doing something he enjoyed.
We will always remember Joel’s smiling face and kind, gentle demeanor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sue, Matt and Abby. Joel, we never got to say goodbye – we hope you are running up in heaven!
Love, Darryl & Mona
From The Times Union:
Ghost Bike
July 9, 2008 by Rob Madeo
The kids have heard the same two phrases in my car over and over:
1. Driving is the most dangerous thing you’ll ever do.
2. Nobody leaves home in the morning thinking they’ll never come back.
They heard me say it again when we drove by the ghost bike.
Friday, July 3, 2006 was sunny and humid. Joel Melnikoff left his home in Slingerlands that morning for a bike ride —and later on Darlene Kawczak of Feura Bush left her home in a Ford Explorer. At about 10:45 the two met on Route 32 near the Owens Corning plant after Kawczak drifted off the road, striking the guard rail and Melnikoff on his bicycle.
When first responders arrived on the scene, they found Melnikoff pinned under the SUV, and police found Kawczak unable to pass a field sobriety test. She was found to be under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien and was later pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
I was there that morning and I remember thinking that if events had unfolded only slightly differently, if he had been a little earlier or if she was a few seconds later, they wouldn’t have been in that same tragic space at the same tragic time.
The site where Joel Melnikoff was killed in now marked by a ghost bike. The ghost bike campaign is a national effort to memorialize cyclists who have died on the road —and I think to remind us how breakable we are compared to automobiles. I’d encourage you to look at it as you drive past, but that would mean taking your eyes off the road. And if you’re taking your eyes off the road, please go back and read items 1 & 2.
Monday, July 3, 2006
Age: 49
Location:
Route 32
Feura Bush
Albany
United States
From the sign attached to his ghost bike:
Joel Melnikoff was a very special person, remembered with love and admiration by his family, friends and colleagues, veteran patients and athletic community. He was a careful and experienced bicyclists who was killed here by an intoxicated motorist.
He did not deserve to die this way.
From Adirondack Sports and Fitness
Goodbye Joel
On Monday, July 3, Joel Melnikoff of Slingerlands was enjoying a bicycle ride on a rural stretch of NY Route 32 in Feura Bush that’s popular with cyclists. It was a gorgeous day to be preparing for an upcoming bicycle tour. We know he was training for this event because we spoke just three days earlier, when he called Darryl to get his advice on choosing the right tour. With Darryl’s input, Joel decided on the Bon Ton Roulet through the Finger Lakes and was preparing for the seven-day, 350-mile endeavor.
Around 10:45 am, Joel was riding when a drunken driver drove onto the shoulder and smashed her SUV into him and the guardrail. Her Ford Explorer dragged and pinned him down. Firefighters raised the vehicle off him, and Joel Melnikoff, 49, was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities charged Darlene Kawczak, 51, of Feura Bush with DWI after she failed field sobriety tests and more charges are pending. She was arraigned, released and is expected to return August 1. Joel’s funeral was Friday, July 7, in the Mendleson Chapel at Beth Emeth Cemetery in Loudonville. Many family members, friends and coworkers gathered to pay their respects and remember him.
Joel and Darryl first met in 1987 while participating in the American Lung Association’s Inaugural TransAmerica Bicycle Trek from Seattle to Atlantic City. (Joel completed the 3,400-mile ride with no flat tires!) Their easy-going attitude, sense of humor and passion for the outdoors led to a continued friendship. Joel and Darryl shared many adventures together including hiking, bicycle touring and skiing. Team triathlons led to some hilarious stories (especially if it involved paddling) with Joel’s wife, Sue, swimming, Darryl biking and Joel running. An avid runner and longtime HMRRC member, Joel helped Darryl train for his first New York City Marathon.
Joel was always a part of our family’s milestones and we were there for his family too. He was a member of our wedding party, he helped us move into our home, and he and his family visited us in the hospital when our son was born. He loved his wife, Sue, and was dedicated to his children, Matt and Abby. At his funeral, his friend Jay remembered that every conversation included a mention of his children. Joel was very active in their lives and was always so proud of them.
He was employed as a physical therapist at the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany for more than 20 years. He cared deeply for his patients. One of his responsibilities was teaching disabled veterans how to drive with a modified car. He felt that greater independence was important for their healing and quality of life.
The loss of Joel is a tragedy. As cyclists (or runners), we can be doing everything to be safe and obey the rules of the road, but unfortunately when we head out, we are at the mercy and whim of whomever decides to get behind the wheel. The only solace we can find is that Joel was optimistic about life and was doing something he enjoyed.
We will always remember Joel’s smiling face and kind, gentle demeanor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sue, Matt and Abby. Joel, we never got to say goodbye – we hope you are running up in heaven!
Love, Darryl & Mona
From The Times Union:
Ghost Bike
July 9, 2008 by Rob Madeo
The kids have heard the same two phrases in my car over and over:
1. Driving is the most dangerous thing you’ll ever do.
2. Nobody leaves home in the morning thinking they’ll never come back.
They heard me say it again when we drove by the ghost bike.
Friday, July 3, 2006 was sunny and humid. Joel Melnikoff left his home in Slingerlands that morning for a bike ride —and later on Darlene Kawczak of Feura Bush left her home in a Ford Explorer. At about 10:45 the two met on Route 32 near the Owens Corning plant after Kawczak drifted off the road, striking the guard rail and Melnikoff on his bicycle.
When first responders arrived on the scene, they found Melnikoff pinned under the SUV, and police found Kawczak unable to pass a field sobriety test. She was found to be under the influence of the sleep aid Ambien and was later pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
I was there that morning and I remember thinking that if events had unfolded only slightly differently, if he had been a little earlier or if she was a few seconds later, they wouldn’t have been in that same tragic space at the same tragic time.
The site where Joel Melnikoff was killed in now marked by a ghost bike. The ghost bike campaign is a national effort to memorialize cyclists who have died on the road —and I think to remind us how breakable we are compared to automobiles. I’d encourage you to look at it as you drive past, but that would mean taking your eyes off the road. And if you’re taking your eyes off the road, please go back and read items 1 & 2.