St. Charles couple died doing what they loved most: Riding
Wade and Denise Thomas died doing what they loved most, riding their Harley-Davidson motorcycle out in the countryside.
The St. Charles couple, who just celebrated their first wedding anniversary, were killed in a car versus motorcycle crash Saturday morning near Elburn. The couple was part of a group of motorcyclists heading north on two-lane Route 47 to Wisconsin when a car crash in the oncoming lane sent a car into their path.
"They loved their Harleys," said Wade's mother, Vivian Thomas, 62, of St. Charles.
"(Wade) is a very cautious person and he was always dependable," she said. "Him and Denise were both very good with the Harley. I don't blame the bike. They were doing what they wanted, and they are together."
Accident investigators are still trying to piece together what happened. It is unclear whether the motorcycles hit the car or the car hit them, authorities said.
Six other people were taken to hospitals for treatment, five to Delnor Hospital in Geneva and one to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, which has a trauma center to treat severely injured patients. Their conditions were unknown Sunday.
Kane County Sheriff's Office Lt. Pat Gengler said it appeared that none of the other victims' injuries were life-threatening.
"I was absolutely stunned," Vivian Thomas said, when two Kane County Sheriff's Police detectives knocked on her door at 2 p.m. Saturday to break the news of her only son's death. "You just don't imagine this happening. That's something you never think you are going to hear when someone comes to your door. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for it to happen."
Vivian Thomas said her son rode motorcycles all his life, and that the couple would often ride in a group and lead the pack.
Gardening, the Chicago Cubs and Bears were the couple's other passions.
Wade Thomas, 44, worked as a delivery man for FedEx. Denise Thomas, 45, worked for a law firm in downtown Chicago.
Denise Thomas is survived by her mother, Loretta Ley, 72, of Aurora, and three sons, Shaun Wold, 28, of West Chicago, Drew Wold, 24, of Warrenville, and Kirk Wold, 21, of St. Charles.
Wade Thomas is survived by his mother, Vivian Thomas, and five children, Timothy Thomas, 27, of Naperville, and Jim Thomas, 24, Amanda Thomas, 21, Brandon Thomas, 16, and Jordan Thomas, 13, all of St. Charles.
Funeral services for the couple are pending.
The crash happened around 8:40 a.m. near Smith Road. A Cadillac was stopped in the southbound lane, waiting to turn left on to Smith. A Honda Civic was stopped behind it. An Oldsmobile Alero, however, drove into the rear of the Civic, pushing it in to the northbound lane, where it crashed with the motorcycles.
The Alero then hit the Cadillac.
The driver of the Alero, 24-year-old Alia N. Bernard of Aurora, was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
The accident forced the closing of Route 47 between Main Street and Hughes Road near Elburn for more than six hours, as the sheriff's department and the Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team collected evidence and documented the scene. The Thomases were pronounced dead at the scene shortly after paramedics arrived.
The stretch of mostly rural road is a popular spot for groups of motorcyclists to travel. Saturday's group was not part of any official or organized ride.
One of the motorcycles in the crash ended up several hundred feet off the road, in a field.
Gengler said it is not clear if drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
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