‘STEVE’ READMAN , 52, DIED TRAGICALLY, BUT DOING WHAT HE LOVED — RIDING HIS MOTORCYCLE
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
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MUSKOKA — Another Sunday and another week with no phone call.
Steven Readman loved his family, his parents — and his motorcycle.
“He always called me on Sunday,” his mom, Linda, said the night before bidding him a fond, final farewell Friday afternoon at his full funeral in Huntsville.
His family is heartbroken with their loss.
The 52-year-old Dwight resident, son of Linda and Barry Readman, died just six days prior to his viewing and burial. He had been struck head-on by a car in Torrance while alone and riding his motorcycle — which he also “loved” and had only taken up driving a few years ago.
The other vehicle driver, 22, was charged with dangerous operation causing death, following the collision on Hwy. 169 Saturday night, Aug. 8, shortly after 8:30 p.m.
The former Huntsville-Lake of Bays volunteer firefighter, who had ridden from his home in Dwight, was buried in his formal dark blue fire department uniform. With lots of people expected to attend, which was followed by a private interment at the Cooper Lake Cemetery in Dwight.
Readman’s maternal grandfather, Fred Stark, too, was a Gravenhurst firefighter; as was his uncle Rob, a 40-year GFD member. His paternal grandfather Lloyd Readman was a prominent member of the West Gravenhurst community where a bright red barn can be seen on the family’s property on the corner by the tennis courts.
“I call him Steven,” said his mom, who was born in Gravenhurst where Linda met her husband Barry, the West Gravenhurst native, before they moved to Bracebridge and gave birth to Steven and his close brother Michael. The parents eventually moved to Huntsville.
But they didn’t — couldn’t — speak at his funeral.
“Nobody can. Nobody’s up to that,” she said. “So if one of his friends wants to get up and say something, that’d be fine. But none of the family.”
If she did speak she would say: “He really loved his family. He was a very good guy and well liked by anybody that knew him. If you read the comments (online), you’ll see where everybody thought he was a great guy.”
He’d just started a new job in Huntsville about a month and a half ago, with Muskoka Lumber that had him also driving a forklift. After his previous work at Spy Communications and a local quarry driving heavy machinery. His brother also worked at Muskoka Lumber in Port Carling.
Steven Allen Scott Readman was born June 15, 1974.
He married Amy, his high school sweetheart “from down the road” a short time after. And they had two children, Asheley (Boire now) and Jordan.
Linda said “the motorcycle thing was one of his hobbies.
“He always wanted a motorcycle. And finally he got one a couple of years ago. Nobody wanted him to, to be honest. Because it’s too dangerous. But he loved it. He felt free, sometimes riding the motorbike to work.”
His mom didn’t think he belonged to any local bike-riding clubs and that neither of his sons ride.
Amy rarely rode with him.
Linda said the tragic news in a phone call from her daughter-in-law “at one o’clock in the morning came as quite a shock” to her and Barry.
She said they were “very surprised. How can you not be when you hear that news? Yeah, it’s a surprise.
“We can’t believe it happened, but it did. “You’re not supposed to bury your kids before you go. It’s very hard.”
His mom said “he was alone and just riding around the lake. You never know where he’s going to go. He only had the weekends to ride. Sometimes he rode his bike to work.
“I guess, if you’re going to have to go, you might as well do something you enjoy doing, right? And that’s what he loved to do, and that’s how he went. And glad to do it.
“And when he called, he always called me on Sunday. He always did, and said ‘Love you, and tell Dad, I love him, too.’ Every Sunday.”
And the day after Readman’s death, his parents didn’t receive his usual phone call.
Which was hard on the family.
“It’s been pretty hard every day since.”
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