LINDA QUADE

A woman on her way to work in Johnson City was killed in a two-vehicle traffic crash that took place about 6:30 a.m. today on the Highway 107 Cutoff (Tennessee Highway 351 South) near its intersection with Sentelle Road and Lee Shelton Lane. Greene County Medical Investigator Ray Crum identified the victim as Linda M. Quade, 60, of Greystone Road. Crum said Quade, a native of Scotland, was employed in research at the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City. Quade, according to Crum, had been the driver of a Honda sedan that was involved in a collision with a pickup truck. Late this morning, the crash remained under investigation by Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Anderson, who was being assisted by officers of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department. Emergency personnel at the scene told a Greeneville Sun photographer that the collision, which also involved a red Dodge pickup truck, took place near 1895 107 Cutoff. When a Sun photographer reached the accident scene, the Honda sedan was off the roadway in a field and the pickup truck was on its side in the roadway some distance away. The driver of the pickup, emergency personnel said, apparently had left the scene before law-enforcement officers arrived. But Medical Investigator Crum said about 10:15 a.m. that the pickup truck driver had been located by law-enforcement officers. But the pickup truck driver’s name had not been released by authorities late this morning. Also responding to the accident scene were units of the Camp Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services and the Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad.

Excepts from Donald Quade’s letter to TnRIP.org:

If you would be so kind as to take a moment to read this, it would be more than appreciated. On 14 September 2006, 6:10 A.M., a day after our 23rd wedding anniversary, an illegal alien murdered my wife. She was driving to work at The Mountain Home Veterans Administration Hospital, Johnson City, Tennessee when she was forced off the road and struck by a pickup truck owned and registered to the assailant. After the collision, the man kicked his way out of the truck’s windshield and fled into the woods. Tracking dogs found him two hours later…about the time I watched, in horror, as our local volunteer firemen, our neighbors, finally extracted my wife’s broken and lifeless body from her car. Apparently, he had been drinking already. My wife served this great country for 40 years as a soldier’s wife and federal employee. She raised two wonderful, productive, loving sons. She was an essential leader in the field of medical research for the Department of Veterans Affairs. She did the right thing every day of her life, never shirking responsibility or duty. She was killed about a year away from a retirement of her choosing (she could have retired earlier this year). She was killed as she lived - doing the right thing. She was a recent mother-in-law, in love with her new daughter and looking forward to grandchildren. She chose her friends carefully and held them for life. She was a Brooklyn girl - tough, honest, vibrant, intelligent, loving and full of humor. She loved to read, to create, to see new things ­ she loved to love us. She was the reason I drew breath every day. In my mind this man killed two people that morning, critically injured two sons, and seriously wounded many who knew her. It’s really no different than if he would have been a bomber on a subway.In my opinion, thousands are complicit in the murder; all three branches of our federal government, agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, the clerk who issued vehicle registration and tags without a license or insurance and who knows how many others that didn’t do their job. The illegal from Mexico was simply the tip of the spear.I f you want tangible, horrific evidence of our government’s inability to care for or protect its citizens, look no further than the picture of her car featured on the front pages of http://www.greenevillesun.com/ on 14 September. I can think of no better way to cut through the ideological B.S. spewing from the politicians and vested interests of all sides of the illegal issue than to look closely at this terrible scene. The direct outcome of our system’s failure sits on my nightstand. It’s a 6”X9”X5” box containing the physical remains of my Linda and all her joy, hope and promise and represents the shattered remains of the lives of the people who loved her.