"We are hoping that you join CAoS, the Courier Association of Seattle, and all bicycle couriers in the Pacific NW in remembering and saluting a good friend Tony Reed who turned up missing Sunday April 15th, 2001 while riding the Bainbridge Island ferry Puyallup.

For five years Tony was known in the courier industry as the safety ambassador and always had a smile and love in his heart for all his friends. Tony's disappearance has caught us all off guard and left us with nothing but questions. We will miss you deeply Tony, and forever wonder about you. Happy travels....."

Spoken from the bridge of the Puyallup ferry as it crawled through the turn at Tyee shoals and Blakely rock towards the mouth of Eagle harbor. Three eight second air horn blasts were sounded as more than a hundred messengers and friends threw flowers and farewells overboard into the cool of Puget sound. With a wisp of tangerine sky and clearing breeze form the north we were left with the memory of a lifetime.

Anthony W. Reed fell some 30 feet from the port/aft pickeldeck of the Puyallup on Sunday, April 15 at 7:33pm. A spotter reports seeing Tony on the surface briefly and then not again. The Coast Guard in cooperation with the Washington State Ferries and the State and Local Police conducted a search throughout the evening but no body was found.

­from Peter Clark

Tony Reed was my co-worker at Champion Transfer here in Seattle for roughly the last year and a half. We worked at the same company, but due to the fact that we both had Nextel phones, didn't really have constant radio contact. Being a two-man crew, we were usually splitting across town to keep everything covered.

I saw him on the road every day, and he never failed to ask me how I was doing. He was always smiling, always friendly, and always had something nice to say ­ I considered (and still consider) him to be a true angel. He always had a kind word for me, and was always happy to see me. I will always remember the roundabout way he talked, the happiness that radiated from him wherever he went... the way he pushed the envelope in every way he could, every day. I called him 'Tony the Tiger' because he rode so incredibly hard. I just wanted to share with the world my experience of this incredibly special man. I will miss him for the rest of my life.

I don't know how many times I've cried because I've lost fellow messengers or have read about messengers in other cities who have died. I know this won't be the last time this happens, no matter how hard I hope or wish. We look death in the eye every day, and it's easy to forget that not everyone in the world does that. It's easy to forget the consequences of the risks we take ­ the risks we take without fear, without thought of what may happen next.

I hope everyone who reads this will reflect on that for just a moment.

-Ethan Dale
formerly #22, Champion Transfer
Seattle, WA