At about 5:25 a.m. Aug. 25, Cynthia Weaver got a phone call, her caller ID displaying her son’s name “Bradey.” But the voice that answered the phone wasn’t her 28-year-old son’s.
“It was a police officer at the other end of the line,” Cynthia said. A couple hours earlier, Bradey Allen Weaver, a Toledo resident, had been involved in an accident while riding his motorcycle on Interstate 70, about 13 miles east of Junction City, Kan.
The officer didn’t know the extent of Bradey’s injuries at the time and told Cynthia to stay close to the phone. About 45 minutes later, she got a call from an ER doctor at Geary Community Hospital telling her that her son had died.
“This my second child that I lost. I lost Bradey’s sister nine days after Sept. 11. I’m just in disbelief. I fell to the floor [when I found out]. There’s no preparing for the first one, let alone the second,” Cynthia said.
The Geary County Sheriff’s Department had responded to the accident, but due to heavy rainfall, officials weren’t able to determine an accident cause right away, said Lt. Barbara Smith.
However, on Aug. 28, a representative from the sheriff’s department confirmed that the accident is being investigated as a possible hit and run. There are indicators that Bradey was struck by another vehicle from behind. He had been on the way to Las Vegas for a friend’s birthday.
“I’m just stunned and in disbelief that there could be people who are so callous and disregarding,” said Randie Weaver Pearson, Bradey’s older sister.
Both Randie and Cynthia said that Bradey was passionate about his life.
“I know that it probably sounds clichéd, but I have never met somebody who took the sentence, ‘Live life to the fullest,’ the way that kid did,” Randie said.
“He was a free spirit, full of life; lived life on his own terms; wanted everyone around him to be happy, very happy,” Cynthia said.
Bradey, a property manager, graduated from Sylvania Northview High School and later Bowling Green State University, where he earned a degree in psychology and a minor in English. He also served as president of the men’s chorus.
The movie lover and history buff also spent a lot of time with friends, Cynthia said.
“His friends and he would make up board game and they would play all night long and that happened many, many times and will continue with the friends he had,” she said.
Bradey was also an avid motorcyclist who enjoyed taking solo trips out west, his sister said.
Randie recalled going camping with her grandfather and brother on their spring breaks as children. Her grandfather would let Bradey and Randie wander ahead of him while hiking so long as he could see them. Once when they were about 9 and 10 years old, they went a little too far and were lost for hours. Bradey, however, told Randie he knew where they were going. Later he confessed, “Yeah, I haven’t had a clue for the last three hours.” Luckily, they were able to find a main road.
“To this day, I can clearly see Bradey saying the same thing to me now. If we had been out in the woods today, Bradey would pull the same crap,” Randie said with a chuckle.
Cynthia couldn’t pick a favorite memory her son. “Every memory of Bradey is a special memory,” she said.
Services are set for 12:30 p.m. Sept. 1, 2012, at the First United Methodist Church of Sylvania, 7000 Erie St., Sylvania. People with motorcycles are encouraged to ride them there.
Donations for funeral costs can be made at Fifth Third Bank locations under the Memorial Fund for Bradey Allen Weaver. Donations to Life Connection of Ohio, a nonprofit administering organ donations, are also encouraged. Bradey, an organ donor, will be able to help 50 people, Cynthia said.
Anyone with information on the accident is asked to call (785) 238-2261.
