Family and friends remember Sean Merriman for his generous and
compassionate spirit
Gilroy – In the Merriman’s garage sits a 1956 Willeys truck Sean and his father Craig had been fixing up for the past three years, nicknamed “The Warwagon.” Their plan was to revamp the all-terrain vehicle and take it out into the wilderness hunting and hiking. Their plan was to finish it together.
But after Sean was killed Tuesday afternoon while repairing potholes on U.S. Highway 101, Craig faces the daunting task of finishing it alone.
“I’ll finish it because Sean would want that,” he said. “I just have to find the strength to come and work on it myself.”
Merriman, 32, was part of a three-man Caltrans crew working near Hellyer Avenue shoveling asphalt and repairing potholes. He was pinned between two Caltrans vehicles after a flat-bed tow truck collided with one of them, pushing it into the second. The two other workers escaped the accident about 1:20pm.
“He was a very, very giving person, a very generous person – almost to a fault,” said Craig. “He was always trying to help the underdog.”
Merriman often stopped and talked to the homeless before reaching into his pocket for money and he volunteered at St. Joseph’s Family Center where his mother Jacqui ran the food pantry for eight years. From an early age, he followed in her compassionate footsteps. He would find runaway children living on the streets and bring them home to stay at his parents’ Gilroy home for a night.
In 1992, he graduated from Mt. Madonna Continuation High School and was trying to get ahead in life so that he could marry his fiance.
“The loss to her is a whole life ahead. I just don’t know what to say to her,” said his mother Jacqui.
Merriman began working for Caltrans in January, after nearly five years at Gilroy’s public works department where he helped maintain the city’s parks, roads, sewers and streets. His former crew members met Wednesday afternoon to share stories about his life and grieve together. They later visited the Merriman’s house to pay their respects.
“The guys are having a hard time talking about this,” said Gilroy Operations Manager Carla Ruigh. “He was like everybody’s little brother. He was the type of person you didn’t just say he was a friend – he really was. He was a shining light here for the crews.”
According to friends, Merriman was an outdoorsman who loved to hike, kayak, shoot clay pigeons and write. One day he wanted to be a science fiction writer.
“He had a passion for everything he did,” Ruigh said.
Lupe Perez worked with Merriman for four years, pruning trees, cleaning the sewers and repairing the roads, and everyday Merriman would send crewmembers off laughing with a joke, he said.
“He was always very happy,” Perez said. “He was always gung-ho, He never backed out from any job. He was a real good person.”
Before Merriman left to work for Caltrans three months ago, Perez talked to him about the traffic he would encounter on the job along the highways.
“In the city, you can still get hit, but the traffic’s slower. Before he took off, I told him, ‘Just be careful man,'” he said. “Anytime you see orange cones, or an orange sign, or an orange truck – slow up. Because they’re doing their work. They’re not expecting anyone’s going to hit them.”
According to Caltrans officials, the crew had followed proper protocol by placing a safety truck to serve as a buffer between the workers and traffic.
California Highway Patrol officers are investigating the crash. If negligence is found to be the cause of the crash, the CHP may recommend the District Attorney’s office press charges against the driver of the tow truck from Ponzini’s Community Garage in Morgan Hill.
It rained off and on in San Jose Tuesday and the roads were wet when the accident happened.
“Weather never causes a collision,” said CHP Officer Steve Perea. “We would never blame this on the weather. Does it play a factor? Sure … But 65 (mph) is probably not a safe speed to be doing in the rain, even though that is the maximum speed limit.”
A Caltrans release described the tow truck traveling at “top speed.”
The investigation is in the preliminary stages and will likely take about three weeks to determine the speed the tow truck was travelling, which lane the driver was in before the accident and whether the truck was hydroplaning.
“There’s a loss of life – that’s why we’re very meticulous about the investigation,” Perea said. “It’s just a very sad situation.”
But through the sadness, the Merriman family is finding comfort in the stream of friends and family who have shown up during this difficult time.
“People that we didn’t even know that Sean had touched are now reaching out to us, and we are so grateful for that,” Jacqui said. “He had a way of getting into your heart … If Sean’s life can save one life, it will make it better for someone’s wife, mother, brother.”
And for the Merriman’s, Sean’s life was something doctors told them was impossible. Thirty-three years ago, they were told they would never have children.
“We enjoyed every moment that we were blessed with him,” Jacqui said. “And blessed that he was happy.”
Memorial Services
– Memorial services are 3pm, Saturday at Habings Funeral Home. Donations should be made to the St. Joseph’s Family Center, 7950 Church St., Gilroy or
to the Wildlife Education and
Rehabilitation Center, Morgan Hill.
