Rest in Peace, Fellow Trucker

I recently learned that a truck driver that I knew had died on the 29th of July. I had heard talk of a driver having died, but I didn’t find out who it was until shortly thereafter upon returning to the distribution center with a backhaul after midnight. Evidently he was found by another employee or an owner-operator at one of our operating centers. There were no further details available. I assume that he died of natural causes, as I haven’t heard anything to the contrary.

I guess that the best way to characterize our relationship was that we were friendly. It wasn’t as though we knew each other particularly well. We chatted on occasion between assignments or when our job duties brought us together in or around the office, out on the yard, or at a truck stop.

He seemed to be a relatively young guy. Certainly younger than me. Aside from occasionally grousing about not always getting the number of miles that he wanted to run and some inconsistent start times to his workday/worknight, he generally seemed to be a pretty happy and pleasant guy. I don’t know his family situation, but I am reasonably certain that someone somewhere is heartbroken by the news of his passing. Good, decent people always seem to have someone that would mourn them. In truth, even some pretty bad people have had mourners.

I recall another time as a truck driver that I learned that another driver had been found unconscious and unresponsive in his truck. Efforts to render aid were unsuccessful and he died. It sounded like he was already dead when he was found. Out on the road in rest areas and truck stops, I have seen medical personnel and law enforcement officers on a couple of occasions evidently attending to someone in his or her truck. Given the amount of time that we spend on the job, hanging around the various workplace facilities and locations, and in the sleepers of our trucks, I expect that it isn’t all that uncommon for a driver to “die in the saddle.” But then again, it isn’t such a common occurrence that I am jaded or unaffected by the news of a fellow driver passing away.

The truth is that it has occurred to me that I could die on the job of natural causes and that someone might likewise find me and that someone would have to notify my loved ones. I don’t necessarily relish the idea of dying alone. Then again, many people have died alone and that isn’t going to change. And we all essentially die alone, even if we die in the presence of loved ones and/or complete strangers.

I hope that my fellow truck driver didn’t suffer and that his passing was a peaceful one. I hope that he was at peace with his Creator. I hope that his friends and loved ones find peace and are comforted by their memories of him and their time together.

Rest in peace, Pat.