By Candy Webb
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One by one, they lit a candle. One by one, they remembered her son, and one by one they used a word to describe something they will never forget about Eric Morris, who was killed last year in a motorcycle traffic accident.
For his mother, Jo Ann Pinkley, it was affirmation of something she always knew. Her son was loved by many. “I thought it would be easier after the first year passed,” said Pinkley. “But in some ways it has gotten more difficult. It’s been a year and it has really hit home that he is not coming back.” Eric was killed when a woman driving a car went through a red light at the intersection of Indian Lake Blvd and Anderson Lane, July 31, 2009 and hit the motorcycle he was driving. “He was only 26,” she said. “He was too young, and he left behind a son, who misses him very much. ”Seven-year-old Kamren, who is now being co-raised by Pinkley and Eric’s father, Scott, remembers fishing with his father on a daily basis. “He taught me how to fish,” said the third grader, who at times seems wise beyond his tender years. “In fact, he taught me everything I will need to know.” Kamren misses his dad, but holds fond memories of playing board games with him, fishing at the lake and doing what dads and sons love to do. “When I was at the candlelight vigil, do you want to know what word I used to describe him when my turn came?” he asked. “Kind.” Pinkley agrees. “Eric was the most loving, giving, sweet-hearted person in the world,” she said. “He would do anything for anybody.” As Pinkley and her family began to pick up the pieces following Eric’s death, the one thing they refused to do was place blame. According to Pinkley, the woman who struck Eric’s motorcycle was given a $500 fine and not charged with any crime. “It was an accident,” said Pinkley. “She will have to live with it for the rest of her life and that is already a very difficult punishment. Accidents happen. There is no one to blame.” Pinkley knows what it feels like to be on the other end of such tragedies. In 2001, Eric went to pick up friends and drive them home, and as he was passing through Williamson County, he crashed the car and the two friends he had with him were killed. “The law says you are supposed to have control of your vehicle at all times,” said Pinkley. “And he fell asleep and lost control. He was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and sent to prison. And he had to live with what happened that night, until the day he died. “I know how hard it was on him, so when he was killed the same way last year, by someone not having control of her vehicle through the intersection, I was not going to press charges on that woman or try to sue her. She already has enough pain to live with, knowing that she caused Eric’s death.”
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