Say Her Name

Aubrey Ashleigh Premo

Let me explain....

Yesterday was day 2 of my normal two day off rotation at the FD. Since I took care of half the yard work and some other errands on Wednesday, Thursday was going to be a motorcycle outing again this week. The plan was to prep the yard for mowing later in the day by blowing off the leaves that are already starting to fall, allowing the grass to dry completely. Then I could head out to see if I could convince one of my co-workers to hop on his bike and go get some lunch. I find that I have been more successful showing up at peoples door on my bike than making a phone call or sending a text. He wasn't home but I found his car parked at his town firehouse. I called him thinking he was inside, but he was out of town working a dive recovery from a weekend boating accident. So I was on my own. I decided to once again head for the shoreline, heading for the CT/RI border town of Pawcatuck, where I could pick up U.S. 1 and head west to Mystic this time. That would take me past the roadside seafood stand called The Sea Swirl for lunch. $22 and change for a fish sandwich, fries, and a large drink, but boy was it good! The only thing I don't like about that place (which I had forgotten) is there are no restrooms, not even a porta-potty. Kind of a necessity when stopping for food especially on two wheels. I hate eating with a full bladder but what could I do? As I was finishing my lunch a car pulls in and parks head in near the table I was sitting at. The male driver was drinking a fucking beer. He knows I saw him but he must think since I am a biker, I'll just be cool about it so he downs the rest of it. I decided to delay my departure to see what these people were going to do. Driving a bike can be hazardous enough without a known intoxicated driver being on the road in the vicinity. They got out to order food and it was obvious that the female passenger was drunk as she stumbled over to the outdoor sink to wash her hands. They order food and knowing they would have to wait for it, that's when I started getting ready to leave so I could be well away from them. She sits on a bench and he goes back to the car, opens the trunk, and grabs another beer. Busch Light... and I see he is wearing a casual shirt that is imprinted with the Busch Light logo all over it. What does that tell you? I know what it tells me, this guy is a functional drunk with a beer in his hand all the time. And these two are not young dumb teens, they are in they're late 40's or early 50's! He gets in the car and sits in the passenger seat to drink his beer, kinda eyeballin' me. I was so tempted to report them, but that would take time and I.... looking out for NUMBER 1 (me) decided to just get the hell away from them. I headed west on U.S. 1 and turned north on RT. 27 past Mystic Seaport and The Mystic Aquarium. There is a large Shell station with a mini-mart and restrooms just before the aquarium access road, so I stopped to perform some hydraulic recycling. I continued up RT. 27 to the end and took some very nice back roads I know through Ledyard and Preston heading north toward the Norwich area and then on to home.

In my travels towards home I passed the road side memorial for Aubrey. I drive by it regularly and have noticed recently it was overgrown, and the cross had fallen over. I had planned to grab some yard implements and make a special trip to clean it up, but on impulse I decided to stop and see what I could do. Here are the results.

Click it to big it

 

I cleared the overgrowth by hand. The weeds were easily moved/removed, but the mushrooms and toadstools looked nice in place. The cross is made of steel painted white with decal letters spelling out her name. Most of the decals are gone, so later I will come back to clean off the old adhesive and replace them. I found a rock 3X the size of my fist which worked perfectly to hammer the cross back into the ground, The sign with her name and picture was bent over so I straightened it back up. The sunflower ornament had fallen over as well, so that got put back up.

Here is the back story of her accident that I found out through my FD connections. She was working at Day Kimball Hospital as a PCT (patient care technician) while attending nursing school to become an RN. She was engaged to be married, had a brand new 2019 Harley-Davidson and was out for a nice September afternoon cruise with her fiance'. He was following behind her on his bike when the accident happened right in front of him. According to my sources in EMS, she was killed instantly. There was nothing anyone could do to save her. I had been out on my bike that Sunday as well, and drove right through there going the opposite direction less than 2 hours earlier. When I was at home, I heard on the scanner that there was a motorcycle accident on RT. 89 in Mansfield, but did not closely listen to the call. After being home a few hours, my wife and I were headed out for dinner going out that way. When we got to Laurel Lane, the road was closed and we turned around to take another route. I could see the scene from where we turned around and it just looked like a tree down across the road. I didn't put two and two together. It was only later that I found out that it was the motorcycle accident and that it was a fatality. The news reports said that Aubrey was "struck by a tree branch." Bullshit, she was crushed to death by a whole large tree. Interestingly, tree crews had been working in the area, removing and trimming trees that could take down power lines the previous weeks. Did they miss taking down this tree or somehow otherwise cause this accident? Who knows.

As a biker with The Patriot Guard Riders, I know how important memorials and services are. It is sad that Aubrey's memorial has fallen to the wayside but I understand people move on with their lives. As a fellow biker that works in emergency services I feel a special kinship to those who meet their end while out enjoying God's Creation on two wheels. I guess I will take on the role of maintainer and try to keep her memorial visible and fresh anonymously. Only my blog and X readers know about this, no one in meat space does.