Phyllis Hassan



Who she is

Phyllis Hassan, former president of Greater Dallas Bicyclists and member of Lone Star Cyclists was hit by a vehicle Saturday during a country ride near Granbury and died Sunday evening, Mother’s Day. She was like a mother to many of us, and was certainly a best, dear friend. Phyllis was a former president, activities director, Spokesman editor, ride leader, and rider of GDB; Leader, and newsletter editor for Lone Star cyclists; and active coordinator for the Tour de Italia ride.



Phyllis is an amazing person. Born in England, she retained that beautiful British accent even after living in the US for over 50 years, and the Dallas-area for almost 20 years. She is someone we all can only hope to be like when we reach our mature years. Phyllis never told us her age, but some of us calculated that she was in her mid-70s. What’s more amazing, the hospital staff tending to her after her accident calculated she was in her 50s based on her healthy condition.



Some Details

The details are still a bit sketchy as I write this note, but it seems Phyllis was riding ‘off the back’ of a group ride as she liked to do and often did. Because she is one of the safest and most conservative riders I know, she was not concerned if the pack/herd got ahead. The route included FM51 in the area near Granbury, Paluxy, Tolar, Rainbow, Brushy, and Glenrose, and was probably 40-70 miles in length. It’s a beautiful country area where many of us have ridden many times. The ride was with the Lone Star club who tend to look for more rural (and safer) routes than the middle-of-North-Dallas rides many of us ride by necessity.



She was struck Saturday at about 12:35 pm by the right-side, outside rear-view mirror of a passing mid-size Ford Bronco. I have no facts, but it seems that the driver had a moment of inattention to the road. The driver stopped and called 911. Phyllis was taken by CareFlight to Harris Methodist hospital in Ft Worth. While investigating the event, police found the rest of the group down the road. After confirming that they knew Phyllis, the police told them about the accident and where she had been sent.

The folks at the hospital gave her the best possible care. Her skull was not fractured, so the vehicle speed was probably not excessive, but the impact was sufficient to inflict severe brain trauma. The neuro-surgeons said she did not suffer. The hospital was very accommodating for the 10-20 folks who were there round-the-clock.





Some key points in her life:

-married for many years to Mo and maintained their friendship

-raised two beautiful children – David and Andrew

-a proud grandmother

-active in GDB leadership in 1988-1994

-Ride across America 2001 Seattle to Norfolk VA (a major portion of it solo)

-Ride across Nova Scotia summer 2003

-Texas 200

-Ride across Arizona

-Tyler-Jefferson-Tyler ride

-Numerous hikes and mountain bike rides in Big Bend

-Hiked across the mountains of Uzbekistan in the late 90s

-Provided trail maintenance on off-road trails in Colorado

-Coordinated a ride to Cloudcroft NM that led to life-long friendships

-creator of the ‘Cool-as-a-Cucumber’ ride as an alternative to HHH

-One of the key staff for the ‘Porta-Potty-Queen’ at Autumn-in-Bonham

-Organizer of Tour de Italia where she loved serving as the parking-meister

-Thursday night dinner ride; HHH several times

-Knee replacement earlier this spring, and was riding within 2 months.

-I know there is more, but this is what I can recall just now.



She encouraged everyone to do things while they still could, because one never knew what might be around the corner. She lived life to the fullest and will live on with all of us. She subscribed to an organ donation program, so Phyllis will continue to be with us as she saves and/or improves the lives of others.



My thoughts on accidents

The majority of accidents can be prevented. In fact, in my humble opinion, most accidents are avoided everyday. Think about the times you had the ‘near-miss’. What prevented the accident? Someone or all involved anticipated an approaching condition and ‘slowed-down’. They were prepared and avoided the incident. Being prepared doesn’t always prevent an accident, as in this case; but it helps.

You can ‘get-away’ with single instances of carelessness on numerous

occasions. (Just ask NASA)

• When it is a single instance of failure, the results are inconsequential. But it only takes one intersection of multiple failures for a catastrophe. (Just ask NASA)

• Think of that the next time you follow the pack into an intersection or down the shoulder of a highway.

• Think of that the next time you run a yellow light in your car

• Think of that the next time you pick up your cell phone in the car

• Think of that the next time you flip your visor down and lose sight of the road

• Think of that the next time you exceed the speed limit.

• Think of that the next time you take a bite of hamburger, answer the cell phone, come over a hill, into a blinding sun at dawn, while going 10mph over the speed limit, and are listening to a very important something on the radio, and find something unexpected. We’ve all lost a friend. Let’s not lose the lesson of safety.

• It’s a no-contest when your 19.5 or 27 lb bicycle plus your 150-200lb body intersect with a 3000-6000 lb car or 75,000-200,000 lb semi-truck.

• Think of that.

• THINK





Keep Riding
Despite all your preparations, accidents do happen, but we have to keep riding. If I quit driving my car because someone was killed in Dallas in a car accident, or stopped going to grocery/convenience stores or banks because of someone
killed during a robbery, I would have been isolated long ago. LIFE IS A RISK AND YOU ONLY GET THE JOYS WHEN YOU TAKE THE RISKS. RETAIN YOUR STRENGTH TO KEEP RIDING. Phyllis would have wanted it that way. She would also want you to do something about Bike Safety.

See the note about Phyllis at:
http://www.biketexas.org/ and http://gdbclub.org/gdb/index.shtml and a note about her Cross-Country trip at:
http://grannygears.com


* Accident, from Dictionary.com
1.
a. An unexpected and undesirable event, especially one resulting in damage or harm: car accidents on icy roads.
b. An unforeseen incident: A series of happy accidents led to his promotion.
c. An instance of involuntary urination or defecation in one's clothing.
2. Lack of intention; chance: ran into an old friend by accident.
3. Logic. A circumstance or attribute that is not essential to the nature of something.
[Middle English, chance event, from Old French, from Latin accid ns, accidentpresent
participle of accidere, to happen : ad-, ad- + cadere, to fall; see kad- in
Indo-European Roots.]