Sunday was one of those days that you never want to come. I got a message from the wife of a dear friend and mentor. The message was to inform me that my friend, Jeff, had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He put up one heck of a fight but after 3 years of battling, cancer finally won.
Jeff didn’t have an enemy in the world. His death will leave an empty hole in the hearts of all us who knew him. He was a one of a kind. Jeff loved his wife, Sherri and the rest of his family. He was the guy you called if you had a flat and needed help. He was the guy you called if you needed bail money. He was the guy you called if you needed to just because.
Jeff and I met through a mutual friend who had asked me to join a group that was to offer advise to INDIAN Motorcycle about the design of the new Indians that were going to be released the following year. During a break, Jeff came up and introduced himself. we chatted a bit, then went back to work. A few weeks later, at a ride up in SnowShoe, WV, he came up to introduce himself to my wife and offered me a swig of North Carolina shine. I had to at least take a swig of it, and it was probably the smoothest liquor I had ever tried. Jeff then took us around and personally introduced us to everyone there. Any where we went from then on, he made sure we had met everyone. I was amazed at how many people Jeff knew. We affectionately called him the mayor of INDIAN Motorcycle.
I will tell you that Jeff was a big, bald, motorcycle rider. To look at him, you’d never know that underneath that gruff exterior was the heart of a good, GOOD man. To know him was to love him. My wife and I had come to love this guy like a brother.
In 2016, I had the idea to start this foundation. Jeff was among the top 2 to 3 people that we wanted on the boards executive committee. When I approached him to be the Secretary of the board, he accepted without one single hesitation. When I needed someone to take on the VP role, Jeff accepted without hesitation. He asked great questions during our meetings and offered up sage advise when asked. He took his roll seriously. He noted every meeting and put it in the boards notebook. He answered the phone when I would call for advise or to bounce something off of him. Jeff would constantly talk to people about the foundation. For his wedding, in lieu of gifts, he asked people to make a donation to Got Ur 6. He and another executive board member literally put the money where their mouth was. When they reached over $500 dollars in donations, they agreed to eat a Carolina Reaper pepper. The hottest chili pepper in the world. After eating it, they had to go 10 minutes without drinking a thing. Jeff did it stoically, like it was no big deal. In his passing, Jeff had requested that instead of flowers, he wanted people to make a donation to our little foundation.
With the donations made in Jeff’s name, they will be matched and used to create the Jeff Glace Fund. The board will get together in the next few weeks to decide how we will use the funds to honor Jeff. He’d buck at the thought of us doing this. Sadly, for the first time in GotUr6’s existence, Jeff won’t be able to vote.
Stories of Jeff’s generosity of time and resources could fill this blog for days. If you have a story about Jeff that you would like to share, please share it with us and we will share it with others on this platform.
Via Con Dios Brother! We will catch you on the other side