Bill's Eulogy

This is the eulogy I read at Bill's memorial service...

I read something the other day that made me laugh, which I’m not doing much of lately. It was something to the effect of, “Wednesday we will lay our friend Bill to rest…” Let me be clear about this, that man is not lying or resting ANYWHERE. He didn’t know how to do that. I can assure you he is tearing up the roads out there somewhere on his bicycle.

Thank you all so much for being here today and for your tremendous outpouring of love and support. Bill was so loved and respected by so many people. This has just been the most horrific thing to go through, and it has been so helpful to have all of you rallying around us, getting us through it all. There is a famous Dr. Suess quote that says, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Well, I’m trying very hard to do that but it’s been a real struggle. My heart is broken into a million pieces and it’s broken not only for myself and our family, but for all of you friends. I know that we are not doing this alone, that we are all grieving together and we will continue to support each other while we walk through this hell. The road is going to be long and rough and we all need to lean on each other. Someday, somehow we will come out of this and the hurt won’t be quite so deep.

We have a lot of talks about “fairness” at our house, because we have a 6-year-old. I have to keep saying, “Landon. Life is not always fair. There are going to be a lot of things in your life that you don’t get to do or have and that is just the way it is. You have to be grateful for all that you do have and get to experience and focus on that.” I could have never imagined how unfair things would really get for all of us. When I told the kids about the accident and that their dad was in heaven, Owen, our 3-year-old said “Was God riding his bicycle when he took daddy to heaven? Or was he in car?” I’m certain God escorted him on the most beautiful bike Bill could have ever dreamed of.

Bill was just the most wonderful person. He was kind, generous, loving, and honest. He was the love of my life and my most favorite person. Bill was the most intelligent person I knew, and I think most people could say the same. Our very good friends, who we refer to as our Italian family, from California called him “the Conciliary” because he could just take care of anything they consulted him on. He had a great sense of humor, a deep love for his family, his work and the sport of cycling. Bill was also a great friend, a wonderful son and loving uncle. He was the most loving and devoted father I could have ever imagined for my kids and nothing pains me more than knowing he can’t be here with them while they grow up. When the police officer told me those words, that no one ever wants to hear about their spouse my first thought was “What am I ever going to tell those kids??” He was their whole world.

Bill and I both grew in the tiny little town of Reinbeck, IA. Our houses were down the street from each other. My brother-in-law, Justin grew up in the house right next door to Bill’s. He is married to Bill’s sister Kelly. I have one brother, Erik, Bill and Kelly have a younger brother, Todd, and Justin has a younger brother, Ryan. We all grew up together, playing in each other’s yards, running up and down the street, building treehouses, playing in each other’s sandboxes, playing roller hockey in our driveway, climbing trees, and maybe we blew a few things up (bottle rockets and what have you), but that part is all speculation at this point :) Those men have all been building a treehouse for my kids the last few days, because that is what Bill had planned to do with the kids this summer. My dearest friend, Catherine told this story at our wedding, and although I don’t remember it happening she remembers it like it was yesterday: Once, during middle school, I had some friends over and Bill rode past my house on his bike and he yelled hello to me, and a friend of mine asked “Who was that?” I answered, “Oh that’s Bill Davis. He lives up the street. My mom wants me to marry him.” Bill and I ran in the same crowd in high school and we started dating my senior year. He liked to remind me that I was a cradle robber since he was in the grade below me. When I tell people our story of how we met, they can’t belive it. It is truly something like a fairy tail.

After dating for 7 years, we got married June 26, 2004 and we had a wonderful marriage. Our love was so strong and solid and even though we had our share of fights and disagreements, we always came back to the love. We had a deep respect for each other and although we were very different people, we complemented each other and just fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. He saw me at my worst and loved me through it anyway. He treated me like a queen. He was truly my other half.  We had the kind of love that I wish everyone could find.

Bill was always an excellent scholar as well as athlete. He was one of those enviable people that was just good at pretty much everything he did. And he always did everything with great enthusiasm. Not that this should surprise you, but he was always at the top of his class, and was recognized countless times for his efforts in his studies with numerous awards and scholarships. His athleticism was also one to be rivaled. He was an exceptional middle distance runner and football player in high school and college. Once we were out of college he traded in his running shoes for cycling shoes. During college he and I rode RAGBRAI several times. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s a week long bike ride across Iowa every summer, with stops through several little towns each day with food and music and then there is always an overnight host town. It always takes you from one side of the state to the other, and each day the route would be anywhere from about 60 to 80 miles. The route changes every year and Bill got so excited every February when the new route would come out. Most of the years we rode it, we did it on a tandem bicycle and we had a blast. I believe that during this time, his love for cycling was born. Over the next 15 years, he built up quite the bicycle collection and when we moved into our current home he even turned one of the spare rooms into a fully stocked bike shop. I will miss so much watching him in there tinkering with whatever new part he got or new bike he was building, many times having friends over to help work on their bikes as well.

Ever since I was a little girl, all I have ever really wanted was to be a mother. After Bill and I got married, he knew he wanted to be a dad, but in true Bill fashion he wanted a plan and to make sure he was ready. I kept telling him, “If we wait until you’re ready, or until your plan says you are ready, it won’t happen so let’s just do this.” When I was pregnant with our oldest, Blake, I didn’t want to find out the sex, but Bill did and he said “Bri, the technology is there for a reason, so why wouldn’t we use it?” After the sonogram I had the doctor write the sex down on a piece of paper and give it to Bill to read. He was supposed to wait until we got out to the parking lot (we had driven separately) and read it in his car. His excitement got the best of him and he read it while I was in line checking out to make the next appointment and I turned around to see him with a big smile on his face and instantly I knew it was a boy. I quickly started talking to him about something totally unrelated and I never told him that I he gave it away, but seeing his face light up like that I knew he was going to be such a great dad. At some point during one of my pregnancies, I’m not sure which one, he joked and said we didn’t need to pick out a girl’s name because he had weeded out all the female sperm, and I think I believe him. After each birth, the midwife would lay the baby up on my chest and it was always Bill who checked between the legs and would say, with so much pride, “It’s a boy.” After Owen, our youngest was born, his post on social media was “We just added another rider to our peloton…” My mother asked him once, “So Bill, did you ever dream you would have three boys??” He said, without hesitation and almost before she ended the question, “YES!” He was so proud to be a father to these boys, and I was so lucky to get to parent them with him. He gave me the three greatest gifts anyone could ever given when he made me a mother to these kids. I will cherish every single memory I have of him being a dad.

About a year after Blake was born, while we were still living in California, he went through the rigorous hiring process for Google and he got a job there as a software engineer. He was elated to be working at his dream job and he said to me, “I don’t care where we go from here, as long as there is a Google office nearby because I am not EVER leaving this company.” He worked so hard at his job, and after the kids and I were in bed, we would always open up his computer and pound out some more code until midnight or so. I know that he was a valued member of the teams he worked on at Google, and he was so honored to work with all of you. Our son Blake, has been learning to code this past year and he said to me the other day, “Who is going to help me code my apps now that daddy’s gone?” And MY thought was “Oh dear, who is going to help my kids with their math??” That is NOT my strong point. I said “Blake, we will find someone to help you with that. Daddy has a lot of smart engineer friends and we can call them.” I’m looking at you Adam and Josh and I’m sure there are others I can’t think of right now.

Soon after Bill started at Google he became aware that Boulder had a Google office and a few years later he put in for, and was immediately granted a transfer. He loved living here. It really was his heaven here on Earth. He joined the Rally Sport cycling team not long after we moved and started competing in cyclo cross, which for those who don’t know is a form of cycling consisting of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded and/or dirt trails, grass, steep hills, stairs and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, and carry the bike with navigating any obstructions and then quickly remount. He loved this sport so much and it should be no surprise to anyone that he was good at it and could not wait until the boys were old enough so he could get them involved in it. This fall he would have started competing at a Cat 2 level and that would require him to race with the pros. We loved watching him race and that is one of the things I will miss the most. Crashes often happen in this type of race, but none are very serious, and he would often walk in the door after a race with bloodied legs or arms and say, “Well, it’s bandaid season again.” He died doing the activity he loved more than any other and I believe he is out there somewhere tearing up those trails and climbing those mountains. Bill’s wish was to be cremated, and when I went to visit him the other day I took a cycling kit and his treasured red cycling socks for them to dress him in. I have asked his teammates to take some of the ashes and spread them on his favorite rides. He loved all of his teammates and I know that the feeling was mutual. I want you to know that every time you put on that cycling kit and clip into those pedals, he is going to be riding right there alongside you. I also, have a deep admiration for all of you and your wives and families. You are all wonderful people and I hope that, even though Bill is gone, we can continue to be close with all of you.

The fact that I am standing here before you today, delivering these words to you is unfathomable and again I thank you all so much for the love and support you have provided to our family. I am so very lucky to have called this man my husband and a father to my children. He has taught me so much in our time together and I am a better person because of him. He will ride on in our hearts forever.

I am going to close with some of the lyrics to a song that was sung at our wedding and was also played here today.

For you, there'll be no more crying,

For you, the sun will be shining,

And I feel that when I'm with you,

It's alright, I know it's right

To you, I'll give the world

to you, I'll never be cold

'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,

It's alright, I know it's right.

And the songbirds are singing,

Like they know the score,

And I love you, I love you, I love you,

Like never before.

And I wish you all the love in the world,

But most of all, I wish it from myself.

And the songbirds keep singing,

Like they know the score,

And I love you, I love you, I love you,

Like never before, like never before.