The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Teen dies in crash
Single-car accident claims life of Saline High School senior
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 5, 2007
Eighteen-year-old Saline High School senior Chris Reid had a lot to look forward to in his life.
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A big Detroit Tigers fan, he was looking forward to spending his first day of spring break Monday watching the team's Opening Day game on television with his father, Lee Reid.
A lover of history, he was looking forward to traveling to Washington, D.C., for the first time later this week with his father and his older brother, Michael, and staying in a hotel near the White House.
He was looking forward to beginning college in the fall at Grand Valley State University and rooming with his best friend, Ryan Wysocki.
But shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, while driving to his dad's house from a routine errand along Lohr Road, Chris Reid's car swerved off the road and collided with a tree. Pittsfield Township rescue personnel arranged to have Reid flown to the University of Michigan Medical Center, where he later died from injuries sustained in the accident.
It's difficult for Reid's family and friends to comprehend the sudden and inexplicable loss.
"It's hard to imagine life without him," his father said. "We had a nice week planned and it just didn't happen."
A student in Saline since kindergarten, Reid is remembered as an industrious young man full of life, who enjoyed sports and music and movies. He collected sports memorabilia and played the cello for years. He liked to dabble in investments and was considering studying business at Grand Valley State University, or maybe environmental science or history. He hadn't decided, but there was time for him to figure it out, his dad said.
"He was one of those people who didn't need a lot of things to please him," Lee Reid said.
An avid swimmer, Chris Reid worked as a lifeguard at the Saline Recreation Center and at Rolling Hills Water Park, where in his time there, his father said, he rescued three people.
He also swam on the high school swim team.
Former Saline swim coach Mike Holtz, who coached Reid for two years, remembered him as a dedicated athlete who came to competitive swimming with little experience but worked hard and ended up being a conference scorer for the Hornets.
"He was a real good teammate," Holtz said. "He was a kid everyone liked and got along with. He had a lot of friends."
Reid swam for the team his junior and sophomore years.
"It was fun to watch him swim because at the end of the year he always turned in some real good times," Holtz said.
Stephen Furey, now a freshman at Eastern Michigan University, swam with Reid in high school and lived on the same street. The two used to play basketball and football together in Furey's backyard.
"He was a real positive guy to be around," Furey said. "He was a hard worker. He always gave it everything he had."
Furey, who wasn't seeing Reid as often since he started college, said his friend's death still felt unreal.
"I can't imagine how friends who see him every day are feeling," he said.
At the time of the accident, Reid was driving his mother Virginia's Honda Accord, which he had borrowed for a quick trip to his father's house to pick up some clothes. It is not clear yet what caused the car to leave the road, but Lee Reid said his son struck the only large tree in the area.
"A foot or two one way or another and I'm sure he would have been spared," Lee Reid said.
Chris Reid's siblings, Michael, 20, a student at the University of Michigan, and Alisa, a 16-year-old junior at Saline High School, are trying to draw inspiration from their brother's memory, their father said.
"Chris was one of the best people I've ever known," Lee Reid said. "We're all going to miss him dearly."
Services for Chris Reid were held Wednesday afternoon at Robison-Bahnmiller Funeral Home in Saline.
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