By Domingo Ramirez Jr.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — Friends say Lylian “Randy” Berry Jr. had well-defined priorities. His two daughters came first, followed by firefighting and finally his south Fort Worth neighborhood.
Two years ago, Berry, 42, sold his motorcycle to help his oldest daughter, Desiree, start college at Texas Wesleyan University.
The Fort Worth firefighter finally saved enough money to buy another motorcycle Sunday.
On Monday, Berry took a friend out for a ride. About 6:45 p.m., they were on Sycamore School Road, a few miles from his house, when a sport utility vehicle turned in front of the bike.
Berry was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital about an hour after the crash.
His friend Shymill Murphy, 37, died Tuesday night at JPS, the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office reported.
“I’m still in shock,” Kermit Thompson, a next-door neighbor, said Tuesday. “He wasn’t an amateur -- he had ridden for years. Even when he didn’t have his own, he would ride mine.”
Berry joined the Fort Worth Fire Department in 2006 and had served on the department’s swift-water/underwater rescue team, fire officials said in an email. He previously served four years in the Air Force.
“Randy was an extremely kind man,” said Rodrick Conner, a next-door neighbor for seven years. “He was one of the guys that we depended on in this neighborhood. My son was out riding his bicycle one day, and a bunch of other boys were giving him trouble because he wouldn’t let them ride it. Well, Randy was the first out of his home to help my son out.”
Conner said that if Berry wasn’t at home, he was at the fire station.
“I probably saw him just three to four times this month because he would be the one to volunteer to work shifts when someone else was on vacation or ill,” Conner said. “Of course, all that work was for his girls.”
Neighbors said that Berry was divorced but was raising his daughters. His youngest, Dominique, 15, is a student at Southwest High School. Desiree, 19, still attends Wesleyan.
Thompson had been Berry’s neighbor for 10 years, and they held a special Louisiana bond.
“We’re both from New Orleans, and we arrived on the same day here in Fort Worth and watched as our homes were built,” Thompson said. “He was a very helpful man. He’d make sure my boys would make it OK off the bus, and I would watch out for his daughters when he had to work.”
Berry was assigned to Fire Station 28 on Everman Parkway, and a crew from that station responded to the wreck Monday night.
Berry was riding with Murphy eastbound in the 300 block of Sycamore School Road near the intersection with Colfax Lane, fire officials said. An SUV northbound on Colfax turned in front of the motorcycle, which hit the back of the SUV, police said.
The motorcycle’s speed may have been a factor, police said. Both Berry and Murphy were wearing helmets.
At Station 28, firefighter Michael Flores said he graduated with Berry from the fire academy. Once, at a flooded mobile home park in Haltom City, Berry got out of the rescue boat to give those being rescued more room. He slogged alongside the craft in chest-deep water, Flores said.
“I’d like to emphasize that he was a really decent human being who put his daughters first,” Flores said. “But he touched a lot of lives. The Fort Worth community and the fire service lost a really great person.”
Staff writer Bill Miller contributed to this report.
Republished with permission from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram