Jeremiah Reed was a boy without fear. He thought nothing of climbing 50 feet up a tree to help his dad rig up a rope swing.
He was also smart. At 9, the boy who scored in the 99th percentile on assessment tests already had figured out when to shift a car’s gears by listening to the engine.
Jeremiah was very responsible, making the accident that killed him all the more surprising.
“Why he ran into (the truck) is a question that will remain forever,” said his mother, Tami Reed. “It’s very possible that since he’d only been on it a few times, he was concentrating on where the bike was going and just didn’t see it.”
Father Barry Reed, 45, and Tami Reed, 38, don’t blame themselves or the driver of the truck their son ran into.
“You could just shut down and not do anything, or you can find the positives that you can do,” Barry Reed said. “I don’t believe our lives will ever be the same again. You take things for granted day to day, and we don’t anymore. You take the time to do things with your kids.”
The Reeds hope to use money donated in their son’s name to turn the basement of their home into “Jeremiah’s Place,” where neighborhood teens can come and have fun and be off the streets.
They’re also considering becoming foster parents and adopting more children. Jeremiah was the third of four sons.
“We want to double the size of the house, have a basement recreation room and a big yard for kids to hang out, play pool and foosball, go canoeing and swing. Give them a safe environment,” Tami Reed said. “That’s a far better way to use that money to benefit his memory.”
The family lives on 1.9 acres bordered by an 80-acre pond with good bass fishing. Their back yard includes a trampoline, huge tire swing and board swing (complete with safety belt) that starts high in the air with a few seconds of free-fall.
The Reeds say the healing process will be lengthy, but they hope to reach out to others who have suffered tragedies.
“I believe there’s reasons for everything that happens, and God’s in charge of our lives,” Barry Reed said. “The only way we’ve been able to get through this is because we’re Christians and with church support.
“We were only given Jeremiah for a little while. We want to let people know there is hope, and there is a future.”
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