Jean Malizia

The following words were shared with us by Jean's long-time partner, Lou. 

Jean Malizia (February 5, 1954 - January 4, 2013)

It was a beautiful Friday morning, chilly, but sunny, a perfect day to ride. It was January 4, 2013.

Jean, who was a nurse at Rivington House, was off that day. She was excited and happy; she was on the verge of taking her RN test. She had rode her bike that morning to Rivington House to pick up her pay check and was on her way to pay bills. Jean was originally from Stamford, CT; she moved to NYC at 16 and began her life in the village and Lower East Side. She started as a waitress, then a bartender, then drove a cab and finally realized her calling to help others and became a nurse. Jean was genius smart; she read and home-studied and passed the tests. She would knock off the Sunday Times crossword while I studied the sports box scores.

As it was back in the days when Jean first moved to the LES, people got their check at work, no direct deposit, and went to pay their bills in person, and that is what Jean was doing. Her plan that day was to pay her bills and then go for a ride in her favorite park along the East Side River. After paying her Time Warner bill at 12:20, she unlocked her bike. She stepped into the street and it remains unclear if she was walking aside her bike or had just got on when a private carting company truck from Citiwide Carting ran her over. The report said the truck was pulling out and clipped her; not true, he ran her over twice. There were no charges made and the driver was issued a ticket for failure to have a fire extinguisher in the truck...really?

At 12:30 on Friday, January 4, she was mercifully gone, as for 10 minutes she was alive under the wheels of the truck...and my life was changed forever, because a garbage truck driver was not paying attention and on a bright, sunny day he did not see a 5'8'' blonde woman with a bright red bike.