RIP TheGr8Punkin

Thanks for sharing this article Jim, I joined I’m July of 19 and came across bits and pieces about Conner now I know more about him.

 

I was hoping/glad someone reached out to her to humanize Connor.

 

I’ve had the little funeral card from that in the Tundra ever since, see it every time I look up to flip down my visor. Miss that kid.

 

What's sad and frustrating is that the accident looked survivable had he been wearing a seatbelt. Its a good reminder for me when I catch myself not putting mine on. I'm very thankful this young lady was able to live because of him though.

 

Oh wow. Amazing to hear and I’m sure he would be happy to know this. Hard to believe it’s been over four years since this happened.

 

That is awesome that you got a response and that you got to tell her about Connor. I wish I had been on here when he was around but hadn't got my Tundra yet. Glad this resonated with his friends here. He lives on in her..

 

I'm very glad to hear you were able to reach out to her.

I've still got his funeral card on my bedside table, and in the visor on my Tundra.

I argued with him all the time over it. After his accident with the 4runner where he busted open his head, I went off on him because he hadn't been wearing his seat belt. We didn't talk for almost two weeks.

I was just thinking about him and decided to come see what was new with this thread, as his birthday was the beginning of the month.

I worked with Connor for 3 years at Ehrlich Toyota. We became pretty good friends surprisingly, he was a very persistent and goofy lube tech, and most of them just kept to themselves and didn't bother line techs. He regularly came over and watched what I or one of the senior techs were doing, always asking questions and helping with what he could. After we both left the dealer, he'd regularly call me with questions about various Toyota things and just to BS. 9 times out of 10 as soon as I'd answer the phone, he'd start off with "Ok, inquisitive idiot time", based off of my joking with him regularly that "there is no such thing as a stupid question, just inquisitive idiots."

I found out at the funeral from Connor's dad, Travis, that I was probably the last person to talk to him. We'd talked on the phone the morning he died, he was supposed to come over and return some parts he'd borrowed for mockup on this 4Runner. It didn't dawn on me until the day I found out that he never showed up.

 

Thankfully he's the one of a very few I've lost. When I lost it on him after the 4runner roll, I said some things that now I'm really not proud of, hence the couple week hiatus from talking to him. It makes me mad now that he didn't listen to any of us that did get on him, but it is what it is I guess.