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Liza was a retail employee of Metropolis Coffee Company on Granville. Thought I would share this memorial message they sent out to their subscribers.
Liza was a retail employee of Metropolis Coffee Company on Granville. Thought I would share this memorial message they sent out to their subscribers.
Liza Whitacre
Liza Whitacre died yesterday. She lived more in 20 years than anyone that I have ever known. Her approach to being was so simple - love it, whatever it is. That, for Liza, was so many things. Coffee, biking, friendship, school, figure skating... She meant the world to us, and we will never forget her strong and positive impact on each and everyone of us. She radiated, she beamed, she rubbed off that pixie glow on everyone that she came across.
Many of you know Liza. We are collecting cards, memories, photos, and stories at the cafe. If you would like to leave a card, I am sure that her family will really appreciate it.
Thank you for understanding, and for being kind during this time - our crew is reeling and grieving, and we may require a little patience.
Here is a recent photo of Liza - she had just gotten a tattoo of a coffee tree. The image of the tree came from Dr. Illy's book on coffee - an incredibly scientific, long winded, and difficult book to grasp. Liza read it in 2 days.
We miss you, Liza
Loyola University student Liza Whitacre loved life -- especially one where she could roam freely through Chicago's streets on a bicycle. But a freak accident ended her life on Wednesday as she and her roommate rode their bikes through the Lakeview neighborhood.Also:
Whitacre, of the 4900 block of North Winthrop Avenue, fell from her bike, landed underneath a truck and was run over by the vehicle outside Hamlin Park on Damen and Wellington Avenues. Police said she was trying to pass between the truck and a CTA bus when she fell off her bike.
Chicago police today said no citations would likely be issued against the driver of the truck. After the accident at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Officer John Mirabelli, a police spokesman said, "The truck driver was apparently unaware that the woman had fallen underneath."
Whitacre was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
"She rode her bike everywhere. She loved riding her bike," said Tony Dreyfuss, Whitacre's boss at the Metropolis Coffee Company, 1039 W. Granville Ave., where she worked.
Dreyfuss said Whitacre participated in Critical Mass, a monthly biking event that draws up to 3,000 cyclists who ride through Chicago's streets. But Dreyfuss, who has ridden with Whitacre, described her as a careful rider who wouldn't dart into traffic or travel in between moving cars.
A wake is scheduled for Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Loyola's Madonna della Strada Chapel, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd. Her funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Rd., South Barrington.
From Liza's remembrance in the Tribune:Loyola University student Liza Whitacre loved life -- especially one where she could roam freely through Chicago's streets on a bicycle. But a freak accident ended her life on Wednesday as she and her roommate rode their bikes through the Lakeview neighborhood.Also:
Whitacre, of the 4900 block of North Winthrop Avenue, fell from her bike, landed underneath a truck and was run over by the vehicle outside Hamlin Park on Damen and Wellington Avenues. Police said she was trying to pass between the truck and a CTA bus when she fell off her bike.
Chicago police today said no citations would likely be issued against the driver of the truck. After the accident at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Officer John Mirabelli, a police spokesman said, "The truck driver was apparently unaware that the woman had fallen underneath."
Whitacre was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
"She rode her bike everywhere. She loved riding her bike," said Tony Dreyfuss, Whitacre's boss at the Metropolis Coffee Company, 1039 W. Granville Ave., where she worked.
Dreyfuss said Whitacre participated in Critical Mass, a monthly biking event that draws up to 3,000 cyclists who ride through Chicago's streets. But Dreyfuss, who has ridden with Whitacre, described her as a careful rider who wouldn't dart into traffic or travel in between moving cars.A wake is scheduled for Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Loyola's Madonna della Strada Chapel, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd. Her funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Rd., South Barrington.
If you fall off your bike more than once every couple years, you're probably not a good enough bike handler to ride in Chicago traffic. You gotta stay on that bike, no matter what.
As Critical Mass has taught us, the more bicycles on the road, the safer for all of us. This is not the time to disappear from the fastest streets in the City.
I've been some what bothered by the accounts I've read of how this incident happened. From what I've read she was going around a CTA bus which had stopped along the right side of the road. The law allows her to have done so. She then "slipped" and fell off her bike and under the truck. That just doesn't sit right with me. She was an experienced cyclist and she just suddenly slipped? Why? Someone else here suggested that she was probably "squeezed" by the truck. I am guessing that she was. I am guessing the truck driver did not give her the three feet of space the law requires. It wouldn't surprise me either if a part of the truck actually struck her or her bike. This is complete supposition on my part, but as I said the accounts I've read just don't sit right with me. The tone of much of the reporting has been that this was Liza's fault some how. Nothing I've read suggests to me that that was the case.
i wasn't there, so i cannot know for certain, BUT more likely the bus pulled out as she was passing. Bus drivers seldom look. Just my 2 cents and years of experience...
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