For grieving mother, anti-drinking message hits home

The Rock Island Argus and The Dispatch

(Edgington, Illinois)

By Dustin Lemmon

With photographs of her deceased son Ryan in the foreground, Joanne Murdock is consoled by Gerry Iberson, left, and Faye Amidon, right, during a presentation by MWAH! Thursday afternoon at Rockridge High School. In the front row is Rockridge baseball coach Glen Cook. Ms. Murdock's son, Ryan Murdock, 19, a former Rockridge baseball standout, died May 21 after being thrown from his Jeep Cherokee in an alcohol-related accident. Ms. Murdock and Mr. Cook later both gave emotional speeches urging students at Rockrige not to drink and drive.
Photo: Todd Mizener

EDGINGTON -- Nearly everyone cried at Rockridge High School Thursday afternoon as Joanne Murdock pleaded with students to not drink and drive and end up dead like her 19-year-old son Ryan Murdock.

Fighting through tears, Ms. Murdock told students the only reason she was speaking to them just three months after her son's death was to convince them they should be more careful than her son was.

"If I can save one life by doing this, it's the one thing I can do for Ryan," she said as many students hung their heads or sobbed on a friend's shoulder.

Ryan Murdock of Buffalo Prairie was a 2004 graduate of Rockridge High School who died about 2 a.m. on May 21 after being thrown from his vehicle on 176th Avenue. Four others in the car survived. Ryan was driving and had a blood alcohol content level of .113, authorities said at a Rock Island County Coroner's inquest. The state limit is .08.

Ms. Murdock and Rockridge baseball coach Glen Cook both fought through tears as they remembered the school's baseball star. They were joined by members of MWAH! ? Messages Which Are Hopeful. MWAH! is group of kids from the Chicago area who tour the state using song and dance to encourage students to make better decisions.

MWAH! performed several song and dance routines spreading positive messages about preventing bullying and discrimination before telling the stories of Ryan and another teen from Pittsfield, Ill., a 16-year-old girl who was killed in an accident with a drunken driver.

When it was time to talk about Ryan, they set out two large portraits of him. The students -- from both the high school and junior high school -- heard details about the morning of his death, first from members of MWAH! and then from Ms. Murdock and Coach Cook.

Ms. Murdock told students of her son's trip home from college in the spring, just 10 days before his fatal accident. He was cut off by a semi-truck on the highway and went into a ditch, she said. He called her and told her he never thought he'd see her again.

She remembered the call she received the morning of the fatal accident. She and Ryan's father, Randy, went to the scene where she held him in her arms. He felt cold, she said.

"I ask myself what I could have done better," Ms. Murdock said as students cried.

She said she had one message from her son to give to the Rockridge students: "Tell them not to make the same mistake I did," she said.

After finishing her story, as Ms. Murdock was being led back to her seat, the students gave her a standing ovation.

Coach Cook told students he also was called to the accident scene.

"I never, ever want to get another phone call like that," he said, holding Ms. Murdock for emotional support.

The coach noted there is a home football game for Rockridge tonight. He said he wondered if the students were getting the message, if they would avoid parties where there was alcohol.

"No one has any idea whether this (presentation) will do any good," he told the students.

He asked them to avoid alcohol and bad choices. "Can we do that?"

There was no answer. He asked again and a collective, but soft "yeah" rose from the audience of sobbing kids.

Staff writer Dustin Lemmon can be reached at 786-6441, ext. 213