by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
When motorcyclists sport red bandannas and T-shirts on July 23, thoughts of Cody Nuckolls will be on their minds.
Cody the lively kid with the big laugh.
Cody the boy who was so eager to start kindergarten.
Five-year-old Cody was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident on April 13, 2015, in front of his St. Joseph home.
At the second annual “Ride for Cody” event, participants will wear red because Cody was wild about Spider-Man. Bikers (and people driving cars) will gather at Stoney’s Bar in Rockville on Saturday, July 23, between 10 a.m. (registration) and 11:20 a.m. (take-off time) to begin the fundraising trek that will take them through Farming, New Munich and St. Stephen, then back to Stoney’s, where the band Midnight Radio will play.
There will also be a food truck. The first 180 people to sign up for the ride will get “We Ride for Cody/Brandin” wrist bands. Brandin because this year all funds raised in the Ride for Cody event will go to Heather Welker, who recently gave birth to a premature baby, Brandin, at only 23 weeks. Welker, who lives in the Annandale area, is a surgical technologist at Unity Hospital in Fridley.
At first, Ride for Cody organizers had planned to give all the proceeds from the event to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. But when they heard about Brandin’s premature birth and the medical expenses involved, they decided to make Welker the beneficiary of the fundraiser.
A man named Benny Christen got the ball rolling for Ride for Cody in May 2015 shortly after Cody’s death. Cody’s father, Ryan Nuckolls, is assistant manager at Casey’s General Store in St. Joseph. Christen, a regular customer at Casey’s, learned about the death of Nuckolls’ son and wanted to help out. He and others put their heads together and started Ride for Cody.
Nuckolls and his significant other, Cody’s mother Lorraine Hipp, will both help out at Ride for Cody and will likely hitch rides for the biking route. They will, of course, wear something red.
Nuckolls recalls how Spider-Man was the “theme” at Cody’s funeral.
“There was a Spider-Man semi-truck funeral procession,” he said. “Cody was wild about Spider-Man. He was a very lively little boy. He loved playing with mom during the day, and he was so excited about when he’d be old enough to go to kindergarten. He loved to greet his sister when she’d get off the school bus.”
That is when the unthinkable happened. On the afternoon of April 13, 2015, the school bus stopped outside of Cody’s house in the mobile-home park in St. Joseph. Cody’s mother walked to the bus to greet Cody’s sister, Hannah (now 8), who was about to get off of the bus. She told Cody to go back in the house. He did, got his coat and came back into the street toward the bus when he was hit by a vehicle. After being rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead.
The driver who struck Cody and left the scene later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in jail, 120 hours of community service and restitution to Cody’s family in the amount of $19,875.
Cody’s parents, naturally, think of him often, missing him dearly.
“Anything I did, Cody wanted to do,” Nuckolls said. “We loved disc golfing together. We played a lot of that. What I miss most about him is his laugh. He loved to laugh. He was a goofball. Like me.”
Cody Nuckolls
The parents of Cody Nuckolls, Lorraine Hipp and Ryan Nuckolls, joined the Ride for Cody event in May 2015. This photo was taken shortly after the bikers arrived at Trobec’s Bar in St. Stephen.
