I predicted that Buddy and Don would both be killed by a drunk driver in 1984. I found this in a sermon on the web. It details the death of my very good friends. Although they are gone they will not be forgotten.
Don Saunders and Buddy Stride planned to be gone only a couple minutes. Like most Friday nights, Feb. 20, 2001 was family time at the little stone house where the two Baptist ministers lived with their wives and Stride's four children. They were inseparable friends, and had been since junior high school. On that drizzly night, family time meant running out for chocolate doughnuts and a videotape or two, then sprawling in front of the TV with the kids. After making sure Stride's 2-year-old son was snug in his car seat, the men got into the car and headed to the local grocery. Legally, Louis Serianni Jr. shouldn't have been near an ignition key. His license was first revoked in 1982 after the state labeled him a "habitual offender." But Serianni, 39, a mechanic in Bucks County, PA kept driving. He'd forged an insurance card and racked up so many moving violations that his record runs 18 pages. He wasn't due to get his license restored until 2019. Serianni was steering his 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible in and out of traffic on a busy four-lane road, doing an estimated 60-70 mph in a 35 mph zone. His headlights were off and his blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. At 7 p.m., witnesses told police, the big Olds crested a hill and slammed broadside into a small white car turning left. Lois Stride, feeding dinner to her three girls, wondered what was taking the guys so long. At 8:30 the police arrived. The first thing they said was, "The little boy's OK." As for Don and Buddy, the police just kept saying the situation was "very serious." By that time, both men were dead. "It's just perfectly appropriate," Lois said. "It seems like God put them together for a purpose, then took them for another." Both had gone to Bible college and married within a year of each other. Both got their doctorates together and preached in the same church. On the day they were killed, they'd received word they were to be formally installed as Bethany's pastor and assistant pastor. Lois Stride says she can't even imagine feeling anger. "I don't know all the whys, but I do trust in God," she said. "It seems odd, because they were doing such a good job. But it's just one of those unanswerables - God thinks beyond us. And if anyone had to die, she's comforted it was Buddy and Don, whose eternal lives she's certain of. "I can't speak to Mr. Serianni's soul," she said."The guys would say that they were glad he's still here for a second chance."
I have to note here that at the funeral, Lois Stride didn't shed any tears and actually laughed out loud . This unnerved me and I left the funeral before it was over because I was so overcome with grief. Buddy's death hit me very hard, as the children and I were supposed to come and live with him to escape my abusive ex husband. When he was killed that was the end of my escape plans. I did manage to escape and fell into a worse situation but also got out of it. I miss Buddy terribly and I wish he was still a part of my life. He called me just moments before the accident happened. He told me the news about him and Don being formally installed as Bethany Baptist Church's new Pastor and Associate Pastor. He was also excited that my children and I were coming to stay with them. He said he was going to the store to get some things that my kids and I liked. Buddy promised to call me after he got back from the store. I told him to drive carefully and reminded him to put on his seatbealt. I had a very bad feeling as I hung up the phone that day that something bad was going to happen. I know where he is now and I long to be there too.