It was a day made for a ride
By Jeff Kearns
Howard Beiderman would have loved it: a great sunny Saturday afternoon ride over the mountains and down the coast, followed by a barbecue at a campground with dozens of his closest friends and family. Too bad the guest of honor couldn't have been there.
Beiderman, 36, and his new girlfriend, Suzanne Snyder, 35, were murdered in his Hicks Road home May 16 by Snyder's estranged husband.
So Beiderman's friends put together the kind of memorial they knew he would love: a rumbling procession of Harley-Davidsons, all following his bike.
Beiderman's friend Marty Petersen, who organized the ride, estimates about 80 bikes and 150 people turned out for the ride Saturday, June 12.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
Mike Montgomery (right) hugs his friend Bruce Balistreri outside the Boulevard Tavern where the ride began.
Friends gathered at the Boulevard Tavern on Los Gatos Boulevard in the morning and took off through town and over the hills following Beiderman's own motorcycle on the back of a truck.
They rode through downtown Los Gatos, with stops in Ben Lomond and Santa Cruz, and finished the ride with a barbecue in the redwood grove at Mt. Madonna County Park in southern Santa Cruz County.
Petersen, who had been friends with Beiderman (through motorcycling) for about six years, says the route would have been Beiderman's choice.
Some 80 Harleys rode in a procession behind Beiderman's motorcycle.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
The barbecue was also an opportunity to raise money for Furry Friends, a San Jose non-profit where Beiderman and his Rottweiler, Diana, volunteered in pet-assisted therapy programs. Petersen says the barbecue raised almost $700 for the organization.
Beiderman's parents, who came out from Florida, and his sister also attended the barbecue. "They gave speeches at the barbecue," Petersen said. "They said they were very taken by the whole thing."
Petersen said he wanted to use the occasion to raise money for Furry Friends because it was something Beiderman loved to do.
Photograph by Dai Sugano
Many riders wore a patch in memory of their friend.
Beiderman, who worked as a machinist, and Diana (age 5) made regular visits to people in institutions like the children's shelter.
Beiderman's friend Cheri Able, who made shelter visits with him and has now adopted Diana, says the dog was the reason she met Beiderman. "I saw him standing there, and I said, 'Nice dog,' and we started talking," Able said. "Howard was so devoted to her and he trained her so well, and he used to call her 'my god-dog.' He'd say, 'Where have you been? Your god-dog really misses you.' "
Many on the ride, like Beiderman, were committed to living without drugs or alcohol, and many know each other and Beiderman from The River, a nondenominational church they attend in Sunnyvale.
Cheri Able and Beiderman's dog, Diana.
Photograph by Jeff Kearns
"A lot of us go to church, but we also have our own spiritual group," Petersen said.
After the ride, Petersen said he was thinking about making the ride an annual event. "Howard was worth talking about. He was a good man, but he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
