Jerry Bowers
Obituaries
Denver Post page 4B - October 23, 2010
Widow Seeks Bridge Warning: Husband fell to his Death after Stepping off Edge on Interstate 70 on Vail Pass, by Kieran Nicholson.
Vail Daily page A3 - October 23, 2010
Fatal fall prompts plea for safety sign, by Kieran Nicholson, Denver Post.
The widow of a man who fell to his death from a highway bridge on Vail Pass in a freak accident is calling for a safety sign to be posted at the spot.
Leslie Bowers, of Larkspur, was heading west on I-70 at Vail Pass, at about 8:10 p.m. on Oct. 3, with her husband, Jerry, when their Chevrolet Suburban hit a damaged section in the road surface, she said.
Several other cars had hit the same exposed piece of metal and drivers pulled over to check for damage, Bowers recalled.
Jerry pulled to the side of the highway and told Leslie he was going to get out and see if anyone needed help. He told her to stay in the SUV to be safe.
It was the last time she saw her husband alive.
Jerry, 70, a retired TWA airplane pilot and U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, apparently jumped, or stepped, over a knee-high concrete barrier to avoid an on-coming car and fell about 100 feet to his death.
“I’m just kind of mad,” Bowers said today. “My campaign is to have a warning sign put up.”
Stacey Stegman, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Department of Transportation, said the highway department hasn’t received a formal request to put a safety sign at the spot, but it will weigh Bowers’ request.
“We are open to looking at this particular area or any other area where we have seen instances of safety problems,” Stegman said.
As she waited in the car for Jerry that night, Leslie did not see what happened, she said. About 20 minutes after Jerry left the car, Leslie started worrying, she recalled. She waited another 20 minutes and when he didn’t return, Leslie, now extremely nervous and upset, got out to look for him.
Bowers said her Chevy was parked on a grounded section of highway, but the bridge and drop was not far off.
She said about 20 cars were parked along the highway and the Colorado State Patrol and the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office were at the scene, directing oncoming traffic away from the damaged section.
A young man with a flashlight helped a frantic Bowers look for her husband to no avail. Bowers approached a trooper with the state patrol and asked for help.
“I have a feeling he went over,” Bowers told the trooper. “I need your help.”
A firetruck with a spotlight was called to the scene. Bowers was so nervous she had trouble tracking time.
Another trooper eventually approached the initial trooper and began talking in a low, hushed voice.
“You can talk in front of me,” Bowers said. “I know he’s dead.”
Jerry’s body was pulled from the bottom of the ravine in the darkness. It was after midnight.
“They surmise he jumped over,” Bowers said, likely to get out of the way of an oncoming car.
Mike Kerst, Eagle County deputy coroner, said Bowers died of a lacerated aorta he received in the fall. He bled to death.
Based on autopsy results, Bowers was a healthy man prior to the accident, Kerst said. There were no indications that he had any type of medical issue or attack just before the fall.
The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death and found no signs of foul play, said Shannon Cordingly, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
“It’s just a really sad story,” Cordingly said.
Jerry is survived by two adult children, four foster children and five grandchildren. They all live in Colorado. Services are Oct. 29 at the Air Force Academy Chapel.
Deputy Coroner Kerst said other people have died in similar accidents, falls from bridges and overpasses in the mountainous county.
“There have been multiple deaths,” said Kerst, who has been with the coroner’s office for eight years.
Kerst said he backs Bowers’ call for safety signs or perhaps even fencing along bridges and overpasses.
“That would be my drive,” Kerst said. “It sure would be helpful on any bridges.”
