Jake Brewer, Husband of HotAir’com’s Mary Katherine Ham, dies in cycle accident

This one is just too awful for words. đŸ˜„

We lost our Jake yesterday, and I lost part of my heart and the father of my sweet babies. I don’t have to tell most of you how wonderful he was. It was self-evident. His life was his testimony, and it was powerful and tender and fierce, with an ever-present twinkle in the eye. I will miss him forever, even more than I can know right now. No arms can be her father’s, but my daughter is surrounded by her very favorite people and all the hugs she could imagine. This will change us, but with prayer and love and the strength that is their companion, we can hope our heartache is not in vain– that it will change us and the world in beautiful ways, just as he did. If that sounds too optimistic at this time, it’s because it is. But there was no thought too optimistic for Jake, so take it and run with it. I will strive and pray not to feel I was cheated of many years with him, but cherish the gift of the years I had. In a life where nothing is guaranteed, Jake made the absolute, ever-lovin’ most of his time with all of us. This is a family picture we took a couple weeks ago. It was taken because Jake, as always, was ready with a camera and his immense talent. All four members of our little, growing family are in it. I can never be without him because these babies are half him. They are made of some of the strongest, kindest stuff God had to offer this world. Please pray that he can see us and we’ll all make him proud. God, I love him. Psalm 34:18, Philippians 1:3

A photo posted by Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammertime) on

 

From The Washington Post: (H/T Memeorandum)

A day after a White House staffer died in a cycling accident while raising money for cancer, his wife released a heart-felt tribute to her husband on Instagram that recalled his optimism and selflessness.

“I don’t have to tell most of you how wonderful he was,” Mary Katharine Ham wrote about her late husband, Jake Thomas Brewer, 34. “It was self-evident. His life was his testimony, and it was powerful and tender and fierce, with an ever-present twinkle in the eye. I will miss him forever, even more than I can know right now.”

Brewer is listed on the White House Web site as a senior policy adviser in the the Office of the Chief Technology Officer. He was killed Saturday when his bicycle went out of control at a sharp curve on Old Frederick Road in Maryland. It crossed the double yellow line and collided with an oncoming vehicle, police said. Brewer was pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver of the 2008 Honda Pilot was not injured, police said.

At the time, Brewer was participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a two-day cycling event aimed at raising money for cancer-treatment programs.

Brewer’s mother told The Washington Post he was in the fundraising ride because of a close friend who was a cancer patient. He “lived life large and tended to live life for other people,” Lori Brewer Collins said.

Collins said the ride will continue. Her son was a man who could “make things happen,” she noted, and that was what “he would have wanted.”

On Sunday, news of Brewer’s death spread across Twitter and Facebook, where a wide circle of professional contacts and friends expressed their shock and shared memories of their friend and colleague.

He was referred to as the “epitome of a public servant.”

 

Ed Morrissey Writes:

Update: The family and friends of Jake Brewer, Mary Katharine’s husband, have launched a GoFundMe project to create an educational fund for their two children, Georgia and the one on the way.

Those of us who love Jake want to help ensure that Mary Katharine and the family have everything they need — now and (especially) in the future.  Please contribute to help provide for their childrens’ education as they grow up. These funds may also be used to advance ideas about which Jake was passionate.  Finally, Mary Katharine has asked that people consider donating to a cause very close to their hearts: The Travis Manion Foundation, which supports families of fallen US servicemen, at   www.TravisManion.org.

The goal of the education fund is $200,000, probably a bare minimum for college education for two students 16-18 years from now. Let’s push this higher than that. Mary Katharine faces some very difficult challenges for her children and herself without Jake, but we can help take worries over education off the table for her.

There are no words that I can even begin the write. God Bless Mary Katherine and her sweet babies. May the Lord Jesus Christ keep them in his mighty hand. 🙁

Others: Washington Post, The Other McCain, BuzzFeed,TVNewser, Fox News, neo-neocon, Patterico’s Pontifications, Mediaite,RedState, Raw Story, Mashable, Moe Lane

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