(CBS) — Family members of a Lemont Township native who’d hoped to celebrate his college graduation this weekend are instead mourning his death in a motorcycle crash.
30-year-old Paul Davidson was about to graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in architecture.
In fact, he was celebrating with his father Paul Jr. and other family members on Friday night.
“We were celebrating in Urbana. There was a hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint Friday evening. We were celebrating and having a good time. And about 8:30 in the evening, he said, ‘I’ve got to go and get my hair cut.'”
Paul Davidson III never made it. He was on his motorcycle – and was hit by a woman making a left turn. Police say the accident was her fault.
Davidson says he is not angry.
“I don’t have any animosity towards her. I know that she’s going to suffer for the rest of her life, unfortunately, for what happened.”
Davidson says his son had struggled through high school.
And then served four years in the Marines, including some time in Iraq.
Then, he says his son found his calling in drawing and architecture.
And he was looking forward to starting graduate school in architecture in the fall.
Davidson says his son was 6’6″. He says he loved to work in the yard and the garden.
“He had no chance. When I saw the motorcycle… I could see what happened to him,” Davidson says.
“There were some things on the bike that my younger son wanted to put on his bike, even though they were damaged. Just to remember him.”
