Steven Pringle, a 57-year-old Army veteran, was killed in a crash in Punta Gorda, Florida, while delivering free bicycles to children affected by Hurricane Ian.
Pringle drove through an intersection that was missing a stop sign (due to Ian’s destruction) with his trailer full of bikes, when he was hit by another vehicle.
Pringle, of Michigan, had a passion for fixing bikes and was a respected member of his Upper Peninsula community.
Steven’s son, Jason Pringle, noted, “One lady said, ‘We couldn’t afford a bicycle, and your father gave my son a bicycle.’ I was really blown away at the impact that he had.”
Steven Pringle, owner of Build a Bicycle – Bicycle Therapy, helps Kadence Horton, 8, of Iron River learn to ride her new bike outside his shop in Kingsford, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, on Friday, July 29, 2022.
(Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press via AP)
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At the site of the crash now rests a painted white bicycle, which is a common memorial to victims of fatal collisions.
Steven Pringle delivers three bikes as donations to surprised nuns at the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Cross in Iron Mountain, Mich., on Friday, July 29, 2022.
(Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press via AP)
An inscription on the bike reads, “May the legend live on.”
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Earlier in 2022, Pringle told a local Michigan newspaper that he wasn’t in the best shape mentally. He was also living out of a camper.
Then, Pringle prayed a Catholic rosary, which led him to “Build A Bicycle – Bicycle Therapy, a shop in Kingsford where he fixed bikes, sold new ones and gave many away.”
Steven Pringle, owner of Build a Bicycle – Bicycle Therapy, and his girlfriend Lindsey Gagne, carry in a box with a new electric bicycle at his shop in Kingsford, Mich., on Friday, July 29, 2022.
(Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press via AP)
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While speaking to the paper, Pringle noted: “I’ve had people in the beginning who told me, ‘You donate too much.’ But the more we donate, the more that comes back at the end of the day. I don’t need money. What am I gonna do with it, collect it and save it?”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.