Last week, a friend of mine, Gleno McIntosh, was involved in a fatal accident and has changed my perspective on life and the qualities that surround it. Gleno was 46 years old, and we had become good friends over the time we talked. I talk about Gleno now in the worst possible circumstances, yet the last time I saw him was at the end of 2006 and our paths intersected during some of the best circumstances.

Gleno flew in for the last weekend of 2006 to celebrate the New Years in the Seattle area. His exuberant character exemplified his viewpoint on life and the way he lived it. It was good times; it was funny times. Gleno seemed enamored by the flood of PNW Riders that were all around him, and I was very thankful to spend some time with him and it being just the two of us.

After our Sunday lunch, Gleno had a few hours before he needed to be at the Seatac airport to catch his airplane back to Las Vegas. Gleno and I took off in my car and from there we started talking. Gleno and I saw eye to eye on everything, and he understood what I was trying to accomplish with PNW Riders, why we started it, and why he was so in love with the PNW Riders community. I conveyed to him my vision, how it started, and my style of running things. From there, the conversation shifted along. We spent two hours just talking about life, about motorcycles, about business, about what matters most, and the good people that surround us by the way we live our life.

I give thanks to Ramona, whom I met in 2002 through motorcycling and our mutual friend, Jeff. Ramona has been with PNW Riders since well before the beginnings, and it was her that brought Gleno into the PNW Riders community where he became intertwined into our lives and daily conversations.
Then, there was the day I found out the worst. Someone from Las Vegas was posting up on PNW Riders saying Gleno was involved in a fatal accident the night before. I thought it was some sort of a cruel joke. I checked out a few other website communities that I knew Gleno belonged to, and also read the same thing. Details at the time were scarce, and there wasn’t enough confirmation out there to really force it into belief within my mind.

I had absolutely no idea that Ramona had not known already. Ramona, the same person that introduced me to Gleno, had to hear the news from me. I called her up and asked if she had heard the news, and she had not. It was the first time in my life that I’ve had to tell someone about another’s passing in that manner. Ramona was able to confirm things, and the sad truth sunk in.

The grief begins to set in.

Pushing past the grief, I have to cope through a difficult thought process. The last time I felt like this was when my father passed away when I was young. It was the collective community of PNW Riders that held things together, as I think they did a better job than I did of keeping it together. I had just talked to Gleno a few weeks before and he was telling me about some motorcycle projects he wanted me to be involved in with the Las Vegas community. He was just telling me about all the motorcycle rides we would do when I visited him this summer. He was telling me about how happy he was with his wife, his family, and his friends. He was telling me about how he missed his friends at PNW Riders. We just talked, and I can still remember his voice as we conversated.

Through the PNW Riders forum, we received updates in real-time about the details of what happened, the moments before, the candlelight vigil the following day, and saw a constant flood of emotion as we all dealt with the difficult news. Looking at his pictures on a plethora of online forums, reading through the countless postings and threads that scattered these sites, I felt like I could do nothing.

My way of paying tribute to Gleno was to create an online memorial. I wanted it to be a spot on the Internet where anyone and everyone could pay respects, tribute, and voice their thoughts and memories of our friend, Gleno McIntosh. It is very apparent that Gleno touched everyone he came into contact with, that was his character. I wanted this online memorial to be dedicated to the life of Gleno and the good that he brought into the world. I know we all miss him dearly, and I will always be compelled to remind others to value our time within this world. Life is too short.

Gleno’s Online Memorial: http://gleno.net/