Keith Myers |
Eddie Hartman |
My name is Joe Myers and this page is to remember the life of my brother, Keith Alan Myers, and our good friend, Eddie Hartman, who were both killed by a drunk driver.
This year marks 40 years since their deaths and Eddie was to be married the next day to his high school sweetheart - LET THAT SINK IN!
My brother, Eddie and I grew up playing baseball together in Meridian just north of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
Keith and Eddie along with Andy Bernard and Calvin Troup graduated from Geneva College together where Eddie was a star quarterback with Andy and Calvin on the football team as well.
Pancho Harvey |
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It was Memorial Day weekend of 1983 when my brother left home to go the rehearsal dinner.
Keith, Eddie, Andy, Calvin, Pancho and Greg Gillespie (no picture available) left the rehearsal dinner to have one more night to hang out together since after the wedding they were all going their separate ways.
No alcohol was served at the rehearsal dinner because Eddie did not believe it was Biblical in todays world for him as a Jesus follower to have alcohol. My brother did not drink either for the same reason.
My brother was driving his car with all the men with him. As they were on a exit ramp a car driven by Lawrence Rodgers, 43, from Etna an area in Pittsburgh, drove the wrong way on the ramp hitting my brothers car head on.
You can read the news artice here 1983 Tragedy.
My bother and Eddie were killed instantly. Andy, Calvin and Pancho were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and only Greg walked away from the accident with some bumps and bruises.
Rodgers and his wife, Nellie, the only passenger in his car, had no life threatening injuries.
The blood alcohol of Rogers was extremely high and he later admitted he was angry at his wife and intended to kill him and his wife.
Due to the blood alcohol level and because Eddie was to be married the next day this case became a landmark case to bring more strict penalties for drunk driving. This story was reported across the country.
Andy, Calvin and Pancho who were hospitalized spent months in recovery with major life threatening injuries. Greg was the only one man that walked away with bumps and bruises but did not escape emotional trauma.
There have been lifelong effects since that day. Andy, Calvin, Pancho and Greg had survivors’ guilt and even though Greg walked away he unfortunately died of alcohol poisoning from the survivors’ guilt.
Andy, Calvin and Pancho were in the hospital for months and still have major aches and pains due to the many broken bones they all had.
Sadly Pancho recently passed away from leukemia on September 29, 2023.
I did not know until the last few years they all struggled with survivors’ guilt except for Greg who lost his battle with survivors' guilt on January 7, 2014 and ironically alcohol was the cause of his demise as well.
Andy recently told me he never lost consciousness during the accident and heard all of the moans and could see the blood and mangled bodies in the car.
Eddie's high school sweetheart the next day instead of waking up anticipating marrying the man she loved she received a phone call informing her the love of her life was killed.
I would also like to add my parents, Jack and Ann Myers, dealt with the loss of their first child Cindy at 8 months from spasmodic croup and then lost Keith when he was 22 so they endured a lot and I wanted to memorialize Cindy too.
My mom had compassion on Lawrence Rodgers and corresponded with him while he was in prison. She forgave him for taking her sons life and kept in touch with him until we believe his death a few years ago as she recieved a returned Christmas card she sent him and we can no longer locate him.
I am sad Cindy never had the opportunity to live a very long life and that I never was able to meet that precious little one even though she would have been my big sister:)
Keith, Eddie, Andy, Calvin, Pancho and Greg Gillespie (no picture available) left the rehearsal dinner to have one more night to hang out together since after the wedding they were all going their separate ways.
No alcohol was served at the rehearsal dinner because Eddie did not believe it was Biblical in todays world for him as a Jesus follower to have alcohol. My brother did not drink either for the same reason.
My brother was driving his car with all the men with him. As they were on a exit ramp a car driven by Lawrence Rodgers, 43, from Etna an area in Pittsburgh, drove the wrong way on the ramp hitting my brothers car head on.
You can read the news artice here 1983 Tragedy.
My bother and Eddie were killed instantly. Andy, Calvin and Pancho were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and only Greg walked away from the accident with some bumps and bruises.
Rodgers and his wife, Nellie, the only passenger in his car, had no life threatening injuries.
The blood alcohol of Rogers was extremely high and he later admitted he was angry at his wife and intended to kill him and his wife.
Due to the blood alcohol level and because Eddie was to be married the next day this case became a landmark case to bring more strict penalties for drunk driving. This story was reported across the country.
Andy, Calvin and Pancho who were hospitalized spent months in recovery with major life threatening injuries. Greg was the only one man that walked away with bumps and bruises but did not escape emotional trauma.
There have been lifelong effects since that day. Andy, Calvin, Pancho and Greg had survivors’ guilt and even though Greg walked away he unfortunately died of alcohol poisoning from the survivors’ guilt.
Andy, Calvin and Pancho were in the hospital for months and still have major aches and pains due to the many broken bones they all had.
Sadly Pancho recently passed away from leukemia on September 29, 2023.
I did not know until the last few years they all struggled with survivors’ guilt except for Greg who lost his battle with survivors' guilt on January 7, 2014 and ironically alcohol was the cause of his demise as well.
Andy recently told me he never lost consciousness during the accident and heard all of the moans and could see the blood and mangled bodies in the car.
Eddie's high school sweetheart the next day instead of waking up anticipating marrying the man she loved she received a phone call informing her the love of her life was killed.
I would also like to add my parents, Jack and Ann Myers, dealt with the loss of their first child Cindy at 8 months from spasmodic croup and then lost Keith when he was 22 so they endured a lot and I wanted to memorialize Cindy too.
My mom had compassion on Lawrence Rodgers and corresponded with him while he was in prison. She forgave him for taking her sons life and kept in touch with him until we believe his death a few years ago as she recieved a returned Christmas card she sent him and we can no longer locate him.
I am sad Cindy never had the opportunity to live a very long life and that I never was able to meet that precious little one even though she would have been my big sister:)
Cindy Myers
Did You Know?
Did you know these shocking statistics:
- About one-third of car crash fatalities in the U.S. involve drunk drivers, according to the NHTSA.
- The yearly cost of alcohol-related car crashes is more than $44 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Alcohol-impaired drivers got behind the wheel of a car about 147 million times in 2018, according to the CDC.
- In 2017, 32% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes while driving at night were drunk, according to the latest data from NHTSA.
- Almost twice as many alcohol-related and fatal car crashes occur during the weekend, according to NHTSA.
- In 2017, there were four male, alcohol-impaired drivers for every one female alcohol-impaired driver out on the road, says NHTSA.
- In 2019, there were 50,930 drivers in fatal car crashes, and an estimated 19% of the drivers were alcohol-impaired, according to NHTSA
- The percentages of alcohol-impaired drivers who were in fatal car crashes ranged from 11% in Utah to 34% in Rhode Island.
- About 6% of teens surveyed in the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey said they drove while drinking within the past 30 days. That included 7% of males. Nearly 17% of teens surveyed admitted to driving in a car while a driver who had been drinking.
- In 2018, 29% of all traffic fatalities were alcohol-impaired crashes, according to the NHTSA.
- Covid didn’t reduce alcohol-related traffic accidents despite less traffic on the road. Police reported alcohol involvement in 9% of crashes, according to an NHTSA analysis of the 2020 traffic statistics.
- About 27% of drivers were involved in alcohol-related serious or fatal crashes from March 17, 2020, through Sep. 30, 2020, compared to 21% from Sep. 10, 2019, through March 16, 2020, according to the NHTSA.
We all have Choices
If you do not believe in Jesus as your Savior as my brother, Eddie, Andy, Calvin, Pancho and myself then the following may not mean anything to you so I am writing this to those that believe in Jesus as their Savior.
My brother, Eddie and Pancho are in Heaven right now. Do you know where you will be when you leave this earth?
If anyone would like to learn more about Jesus and His plan of Salvation for your life please visit the Whosoever Will page.
Biblical truth
My personal opinion is it is a sin today for a person that professes to know Jesus as their Savior to drink alcohol because there is an epidemic of alcoholics that do not even think they are alcoholics so if a follower of Jesus drinks we never know who is around us that is struggling with alcohol and scripture clearly instructs us not to be a stumbling block in Romans 14:13:
"Let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but use your judgment rather in this that no man put an occasion to fall, or a stumbling block before his brother."
May God guide your heart and future actions after you watch the videos.
There are many false teachers today that justify drinking alcohol taking John Chapter 2 out of context and making statements like - see people were already drunk and Jesus was making them more wine.
These false teachers do not understand what John Chapter 2 really means. The following video shares the truth about John Chapter 2.
Also be careful of the false teaching and the deception of religious organizations that are called a "mega church" as explained in the video below.
Scriptures does not talk about a "mega church" but the scriptures below does share that the Church is in their houses:
Romans 16:5 "Likewise greet the Church that is in their house. Salute my beloved Epaenetus, which is the firstfruits of Achaia in Christ."
I Corinthians 16:19 " The Churches of Asia salute you: Aquila and Priscilla with the Church that is in their house, salute you greatly in the Lord."
Colossians 4:15 "Salute the brethren which are of Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the Church which is in his house."
Philemon 1:2-3 "2 And to our dear sister Apphia, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the Church that is in thine house: 3 Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."
Please find a Biblically sound place to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that does not have a payroll of staff that use God's money to pay their salaries and benefits.
People are the CHURCH and the Bride of Christ as scripture clearly tells us and God's design is for us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and make desciples to continue to spead the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be renewed in Christ to be better every day putting off our old ways of sin.
We are not perfect as only Jesus Christ was perfect but we can be perfect in Jesus Christ as we grow closer to Jesus Christ everyday.
The only way to be closer to Jesus Christ is to read the Bible every day which is God's life manual for us.
Here is a free downloadable Bible that I use.
Download the 1599 Geneva Bible
(read The History and Impact of the Geneva Bible)
Order the 1599 Geneva Bible online HERE
If anyone would like to contact me please email me at [email protected]
The truth about John Chapter 2 |
The truth about the "mega church" |