Life Saving Crew Holds Memorial Ride for Fallen Member
Claire Galofaro/Bristol Herald Courier
Jerry “Pokey” Poston and Randy Grubb after Sunday’s memorial ride at the Glade Spring Volunteer Life Saving Crew station.
GLADE SPRING, Va. – Billie Jo Fogleman wanted a motorcycle for her 40th birthday.
So her husband, Jim, got her a shiny black Harley Davidson Sportster. Just weeks later on July 11, her first big ride with her husband and five friends, she was killed in an accident two hours away in North Carolina.
The Foglemans are longtime members of Washington County’s Life Saving Crew, and her death weighed heavily on the area’s close-knit rescue teams.
“It’s a brotherhood,” said friend Jerry “Pokey” Poston of volunteer rescue workers throughout the region, “We’re a family outside a family. And it’s been hell.”
Dozens of Southwest Virginia’s rescue volunteers, many of whom share Fogleman’s motorcycle hobby, gathered at the Glade Spring Volunteer Life Saving Crew station Sunday afternoon for a memorial ride and fundraiser.
The ride was originally planned as a 100-mile circle, but was cut short because of rain.
When the 10-bike crew returned to the station, they presented Fogleman’s husband with a check for $1,025 – individual donations from riders, friends and strangers – to put back for Hannah, their 11-year-old daughter.
“Hannah’s been my crutch through this,” Fogleman said of his tall, sandy-haired daughter. “She’s a lot like her mom, a really headstrong individual. People who know us say looking at Hannah is like looking at a carbon copy of Billie Jo.”
A buffet stretched along 30 feet of folding tables and the door-prize drawing lasted 30 minutes because they had so much to give away. More than 100 area businesses – from Glade Spring to Johnson City – donated food, money, utensils and prizes. A banner stretched across the tables: In Loving Memory of Billie Jo Fogleman, it read, surrounded by more than 50 signatures.
Still, the event’s organizers were disappointed by the turn-out, blamed the rain and quickly planned to reconvene next Sunday for another, hopefully larger, memorial ride. Anybody interested in riding along can call the Glade Spring crew station at (276) 429-5522 for more information.
“I never realized we had touched so many people through the years,” said Jim Fogleman. “On the Life Saving Crew, I’ve always been on the other side of the spectrum. And it’s hard being on this end of things.”
The Foglemans fell in love at the rodeo 20 years ago, got married and a couple years later joined the Life Saving Crew. Jim Fogleman is now the captain.
Friends say Billie Jo Fogleman saved hundreds of lives in her time there, and it was a packed house at her Abingdon funeral.
Ron Gilman, with Motorcycle Ministries, said motorcycle riders share a common bond. “You ever notice how riders, even ones that don’t know each other, wave as they pass?” Gilman said. “It’s just a courtesy. Once it gets in your system, you’re in the family.”
Billie Jo Fogleman worked in the transportation department of Dutt and Wagner, a poultry wholesaler in Abingdon. She wanted more than anything to have her own bike and learn how to ride. So her co-worker, Wanda Vance, 54, loaned her a little bike to practice on, and was right behind her on the ride that killed her.
“I haven’t rode my bike since,” Vance said. “But today is for Billie Jo.”
“Up in heaven, there’s a little biker ride now,” said Vance’s husband, Mike Oliver, 52. “So she never doesn’t get to ride.”
| (276) 645-2531
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Reader Reactions
Brandi White
The best thing you can do with this troll (ka-dotty) is to discontinue the notices for this comment and ignore him.
(are you Joshes wife? Sorry…if not!)
As I stated in my earlier post if you were family or a friend of the family, you would know the details of her accident. Out of respect for her family and by request the details were not released in this article. To me the important details were provided, she was a wonderful person who touched the lives of many, she had an accident that took her life and left behind those who loved her, a husband, young daughter and a countless number of family and friends. Please respect them and let it go!
The high school drop out who wrote this article should be fired for not providing important details.
Kadoty, for your information Billie Jo DID take the riders safety course and passed, as for details, if you knew any of her family or friends which obviously you dont, then you would know the details of the accident! Accidents happen, thats why they are called accidents! We lost a great person, and it has been hard enough to deal with, without someone like you assuming things that are not true and making comments. If you dont know the facts then out of respect for her family and friends, please keep your comments to yourself! As you stated in your post you are a rider, so this could very well have been you!
I say that, in memory of M. Fogleman, we all just let ka-dotty here have the last say. He is sooo bad seeing as how he learned so much at Sturgis (ooooo we are so jealous)and the “cruisers” are so dumb. Even BHC is stupid in his book…you can have it here kodotty….WE learned manners and respect for the dead at our Mommas Knee…...bye!
I ride, but I learned in Sturgis to never ask cruiser types anything about bikes. I rode in rallies to raise funds for an ailing cops daughter.
Why didn’t this rag go into more detail? Probably because it was just as I called it. A new rider with little experience. You have to learn to say no.
kadoty: I’m sorry but this is not the place to post something like that. I’ve been riding for several years and believe me all riders know it is a dangerous sport. Maybe you intentions were good posting this but to be honest you sound like someone who doesn’t like motorcycles.
to kadoty
You have GOT to be joking to post something this callous! Unless you know these people for sure and know that she did not have the course or anything else about it how can you make such a comment about someone who lost their life?
I don’t know ANY of them but the loss of a life is not something to doubt her “friends” about. I don’t know what happened in this accident but it was probably some a—ho—car/driver that pulled out in front of her as they do in most cases- while they are on a cell phone calling or messaging. (guess I have as much right to blame SOMEONE as you do!)I hope her friends don’t read this crap you wrote.
Friends don’t let friends ride without having them first taking the rider safety course. You can see what happened, a lesson for sure, a dangerous sport.
Was she wearing crash protection; gloves helmet, boots, jacket? Such a shame.
What were you all thinking?
This lady’s star is surely shining bright in the sky. A hero who saved do many and was taken so young. My prayers are with her family that they know she will always be a bright star to so many!
God Bless
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