The Highlander Newspaper Ride Coverage (Marble Falls, TX)

Paramedics plan memorial bike ride
Eric Hanson reason for Eastern seaboard ride

By Angela Timmons
Highland Lakes Newspapers

Enrolled in Austin Community College’s paramedic program, Eric Hanson was a quiet student.
But everything he did was kind and generous, said Tree Marsoobian, who graduated ACC’s program with Hanson in 2005.
“His passion for others was evident every day,” Marsoobian said.
Now, Marsoobian, an Austin-Travis County paramedic, has borrowed from that passion and formed a team to ride from New York City to Roanoke, Va., in May in honor of her classmate.
Hanson, a Marble Falls Area EMS paramedic from Austin, died Oct. 10, 2006, at the age of 26 while returning from an emergency call to Austin. With him was fellow MFAEMS paramedic Kyla Wilson, also of Austin, who suffered multiple injuries and has since elected to move to Oregon.
The MFAEMS ambulance Hanson was driving westbound on SH 71 early that morning was struck by Spicewood’s Troy McVey, 36, who was driving east on the highway and lost control of his pick-up truck. Hanson died at the scene and McVey died later that morning from accident-related injuries.
The May ride is part of an EMS Memorial Bike Ride which Marsoobian became aware of about a week after Hanson’s Oct. 13, 2006, funeral.
An avid cyclist, Marsoobian saw the memorial ride as a perfect way to commemorate her fallen classmate.
“On a personal level, I wanted to do this for Eric and I’ve always enjoyed taking something that affected me personally and coupling that with an incredible physical challenge,” Marsoobian said. “I think we were all affected by this one.”
So Marsoobian assembled colleagues Randy Vickery, Aaron Langford, Susan Erwin, Cheryl Bakhtiari and Mark Hawkins to form the team.
Also riding with Marsoobian is Heather Bucklin, a Guardian EMS paramedic. The team also welcomes additional riders for the May 20-26 event.
“I thought this was a great way to do something in honor of Eric,” Marsoobian said.
In the meantime, the team seeks donations to fund its participation in the ride. The team is selling pins in honor of Hanson and accepting tax-deductible donations.
“We need to raise as much as we can,” Marsoobian said.
The team updates its blog almost every day, Marsoobian said, and checks for donations.
MFAEMS Operations Director Johnny Campbell said the bike ride is an appropriate way for Hanson’s peers to commemorate his life.
“I think it’s great that they’re doing that,” he said. “It’s a wonderful tribute to Eric and his family.”