Edward Lindsey Mack

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Edward Lindsey Mack
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Age: 59

Location:
St. Francis Street
Mobile , AL
United States

From AL.com

On Thursday night, the park at Bayou and St. Francis streets was made
sacred ground. Not because it was named for one of Mobile’s founding
fathers, but for the spirit manifested in memorial of a man whose life
was cut short while on a peaceful downtown bicycle ride.

Such was
the message at Father Ryan Park, in the heart of the city, where more
than a hundred people stood together to remember the life of Edward
Lindsey Mack, who was killed by a motorist on April 27, just three days
shy of his 60th birthday.

The man who hit Mack, 28-year-old Alexander Graf, was allegedly driving drunk
and is still awaiting a July hearing in the case, but it was the memory
of Mack that shone under the oak trees on Thursday, not the tragic
details of his final minutes on earth.

Two dozen of Mack’s family
members were on hand for the memorial, which included music by the Blow
House brass band and remarks by Mack’s daughter, Sabrina, and
representatives of the bicycle groups Mobilians on Bikes and Team Share
the Road. A Ghost Bike, painted all white and adorned with flowers,
on an island near the intersection where he lost his life, stood mere
feet away – a silent sentinel and reminder of his passing.

Before
the ceremony began Mary Simmons, Mack’s sister, talked about the last
time they saw her brother – who was homeless – on a bright Easter Sunday
less than a month before his death.

“We always have family gatherings, and he’s always there,” Simmons said. “And we had a nice Easter.”

The
one thing she wanted everyone to know about her brother Edward was
that, “He loved his family and his family loved him very much.”

“He
was fun, and had a lot of sense of humor,” granddaughter Santana Mack
said. “Everybody loved him and he loved a lot of people.”

Standing next to Simmons, Mack’s granddaughter agreed with a smile.

“He was fun, and had a lot of sense of humor,” Santana Mack said. “Everybody loved him and he loved a lot of people.”

Spreading
awareness about bicycle safety in the hopes of sparing other families
from experiencing a similar tragedy was a point of passion for Mack’s
daughter on Thursday. Speaking casually with those who gathered to honor
him, Sabrina Mack’s message was, “It could have been you.”

“That
could have been anyone crossing that street, but it just so happened to
be my father,” she said. “He was on the bike lane, and his life was
actually taken from him.”

That Edward Mack was traveling in one
of the city’s few official bike paths when he was struck was a bitter
irony on Thursday night. Just feet away from where he died, dozens of
bicyclists paused respectfully as the family grieved openly.

“Hopefully
this will make people more aware: when they drink and drive, how it
impacts families,” Mack said. “That’s my main concern.”

Rev. Jim
Flowers, of All Saints Episcopal Church, blessed those gathered in
Father Ryan Park, and paid homage to the “beautiful spirit” embodied by
Lindsey Mack, and the dozens standing reverently in his honor.

“As
people of faith – whatever faith you are a part of – it is our vocation
to give to our brothers and sisters well-being and dignity,” Flowers
said. “And I think this is what we’re all about here.

“Here we stand, on sacred ground, to bring dignity to that life; and bring dignity to that death.”

 

from AL.com

Ghost Bike memorial chained downtown as reminder for slain cyclist


By

Robert McClendon | AL.com Contributor

on May 08, 2013 at 11:10 AM, updated November 06, 2013 at 4:57 PM

Ghost_Bike_1.JPGA
Ghost Bike is chained on St. Francis Street as a memorial to Edward
Lindsey Mack, who, while riding his bike near the spot late April 27,
was run over by an allegedly drunk driver. (Michael Dumas/mdumas@AL.com)
 

MOBILE, Alabama -- There’s a bike chained to a sign on St. Francis Street. No rider will return to claim it.

It’s a Ghost Bike, one of the all-white bicycles used around the world
to mark the spot where cyclists have been killed by motorists.

The St. Francis Street Ghost Bike was placed there as a memorial for
Edward Lindsey Mack, who, while riding his bike near the spot late April
27, was run over by an allegedly drunken driver. Mack’s funeral was
Tuesday.

Todd Duren, one of two Mobilians who made the Ghost Bike
for Mack, said that, though he didn’t know Mack personally, his death
was deeply troubling.

“I identified with him. We both ride bikes
around downtown to get to places we want to go. I take my family riding
downtown,” Duren said.

Ironically, Mack was riding near one of
the few city-sanctioned bike routes in Mobile. Though the route is not
striped with a bike lane, it’s designated as a bike route because it
follows neighborhood streets thought to be safe for cyclists.

Duren said that he has frequently ridden in the area to and from the
home of his friend, Richard Walsh, the other man behind Mack’s Ghost
Bike. “That could have been me riding home from Richard's one night,”
Duren said.

Walsh, who lives downtown, said that he hopes the
bike will remind motorists that pedestrians and cyclists use the streets
too. “It’s a reminder to people what can happen. What can happen when a
car hits a cyclist or a pedestrian. They will drive by that bike and
see what can happen,” Walsh said.

Since the first Ghost Bike was
placed in St. Louis in 2003, it has grown into a global phenomenon,
with more than 500 of the memorials placed in countries around the
world, according to ghostbike.org. The only other Ghost Bike in Alabama
is in Huntsville, according to the website.

Walsh said that
he and Duren made Mack’s Ghost Bike out of one of the old bicycles that
Walsh keeps on behalf of the MOB Cooperative, which builds and sells
affordable bicycles.

Since making the bike for Mack, Walsh said,
he has scrapped most of the bikes he had at his house because they had
already been stripped for parts. “I’m keeping a few of them around
though, for the next person who gets killed while riding their bike,” he
said.