6/28 ~ Day of Rest

1995 USAIDS 5,000
(20th Anniversary Pictorial Ride)
Post #29:
When interviewing with Gary Post Tribune, I was clued in on a secret. They had been sitting on a story, "but needed a cover". I understood they had planned to dedicate a substantial portion of the upcoming Sunday Edition to HIV/AIDS, and they used a twist on a phrase that stuck with me: "It's easier for everyday folks to face a crisis--if they can associate a face with it." My ride would allow them "a cover"? See it, tomorrow! (Each picture has more details.)

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Picture #061

For those of you following these posts, you may recall my mentioning in Elkhart that I was feeling 'worn'. I needed a day of rest, but felt compelled to connect with Irene Crider, the other person to be featured by the Post Tribune. Having located her (in the hospital), Carl Lebman went as my personal representative, with the moral support of my sisters, to meet and greet Irene. I have several articles, describing an abused girl with an abusive habit, who was denied medical treatment while rotting away in Lake County Jail. Having met and married Dean, she was turning her life around, and then learned she was HIV positive. Rather than hold a grudge, or simply rolling over to die, Irene used her own story to help others in need, and more importantly, to help change jail procedures, to allow testing and treatment. She called me from her hospital bed, thanking ME for riding for "us all". I promised to come for a BBQ at her place, after the bike trip, if she would hang in there, and wait for new drugs. She mailed an autographed copy of her own articles to us, during the trip; but Carl and I kept a big promise, by stopping for a BBQ, in September, on our way home to NY. (Picture from Gary Post Tribune, June 27, 1995)
— with Irene Crider

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Picture #062

When I Google Irene Crider, it didn't take long to find this: Birth: May 7, 1968; Death: September 28, 1999; Burial: Calumet Park Cemetery, Merrillville, Lake County, Indiana, USA; Plot: section 36A, Lot Z45, Grave 2. May she rest in the peace she sought. (I was not able to fit poems and pictures in An Impossible Dream Story, but on the 20th Anniversary of USAIDS 5,000, I feel compelled to print some of these items as an invaluable part of OUR history.) (Poem by Irene Crider, 1993)

Sue Fleming Beautiful poem