Brent Clearman
On average, our northbound journey from L. A. yesterday was twenty degrees cooler than the Road from Hell had been several days ago, We were traveling on U.S. 101/CA 1, headed for the Bay Area and being guided by the app on my i-phone.
North of San Jose, we were directed to take the 880 Freeway which, in the old days was kniwn as the Nimitz – a highway to avoid at all costs. However, in the interests of time and also taking into account the navigator’s fuzzy memory (that would be mine!), we didn’t argue the point. It was as I remembered from forty years ago – clotted with trucks and commuters who sometimes barreled ahead at seventy miles per and sometimes crawled along through the hovering exhaust fumes.
Not far from the Oakland Coliseum, during one of those interminable (and for no apparent reason) barely-moving-traffic periods, I glanced out my window just in time to see the large highway marker. “CHP Officer Brent W. Clearman Memorial Freeway.” We were past it before I could reach my camera but the words, like the little boy in my second grade class of so long ago, filled my thoughts and heart for the remainder of our day’s journey.
1982
Brent: the shy, serious boy –a good student and popular with his classmates. Brent: the young man who joined the Marines and whose skill as a marksman would earn him the status of Sharpshooter. Brent, the 33-year old California Highway Patrolman killed in the line of duty in 2006 by a hit-and-run driver.
I couldn’t help but think that there was a reason we had been ‘directed’ to that dreaded, erstwhile Nimitz Freeway – a closure of sorts. I am trying to wrap my head around the new name for that section of the road – “CHP Officer Brent W. Clearman Memorial Freeway.” I know it is meant as a tribute to Brent, but it’s small comfort…
Brent will always be a positive role model for our community. There is a whole ‘community’ of friends from around the world who remember Brent and all he did for his country. The Clearman Foundation was started by his wife Cathy, and continues to grow and reach out to help more military and CHP families each year. We even have a ‘little’ Brent in our home who looks up to ‘big’ Brent stories and pictures. Thank you Sydney for remembering and posting this story about Brent in your blog.
I am glad your former student is being memorialized, but what of Admiral Nimitz. I guess there are too few to remember his involvement in WWII so perhaps it is time to move on to new heroes. Too bad there could not be a new highway so both could be honored.
What I should have mentioned is that Brent was a student here at Ocean Park School back in the early 1980s –not in the really olden days when I taught in California. After college, he was in the Marines — served in Iraq among other things — before joining the CHP. As for Admiral Nimitz — I think that’s still the name if the highway as a whole. It’s just certain sections that are dedicated to those who gave their lives in public service, and even then, it’s a rare and very precious tribute. That I just “happened” to see the sign was the serendipitous part of it all.,,
Dear Sydney,
Thank you for your beautiful and stunning writing of my dear brother, Brent. Reading about your experience takes my breath away, and my tears cannot be contained. And, that photo of him…it haunts me. A blurred image like those in my dreams when I find myself in his presence, but not really. My own son just finished second grade, and I see many ways in which he resembles the uncle he never knew. I have no other words, but to repeat…thank you.
Tara, it is so lovely to hear from you. Thank you for writing, My few remarks about seeing Brent’s sign don’t half tell how moved I was and how much I am in awe of whatever caused me to turn my head and look at just that very moment. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around you having a second grader of your own. It seems so short a time since you and Brent and Amy were all that age, yourselves. Enjoy him every minute — the time goes by way too quickly!
Hugs, Sydney
Brent’s younger sister, Amy, and I were at the unveiling and dedication of the sign on the freeway. Just to clarify, the 880 is still the Nimitz freeway. Brent was hit on an on-ramp near the coliseum while investigating an accident. A one mile stretch of the freeway in that area is named in his memory. There is a sign at each end of the mile. It’s much like the section of Highway 30 in Rainier OR that is dedicated to Chief Ralph Painter who was also killed in the line of duty. It has been 6 long, hard years since we lost Brent. There will never be an answer to why this happened, but it is a comfort to know that there are people who still remember him for the excellent man that he grew up to become.
Thanks for the clarification, Carol. That is the way I understood it from my research on the internet but I obviously didn’t make it clear on my website. I appreciate your doing so!