WHITEHALL TWP. - Edward Tomcics lived his whole life on Water Street in Whitehall. On Christmas Night, he died there, too.
Tomcics, 75, was fatally struck as he walked across the street after parking his car Wednesday in the 3200 block, family members said.
On Thursday, as they placed candles and built a memorial to the man they called “the Water Street mayor,” they also shouted and pleaded with motorists to slow down as cars whizzed along the 25 mph street at speeds much higher than that.
His wife Barbara Tomcics wept as she described Ed’s final moments.
She rushed outside after his granddaughters and neighbors heard the impact shortly before 7 p.m., she said. He had been thrown several feet and was found on the side of the road.
“I was waiting for him to walk in the door. I just can’t believe he’s gone.”Barbara Tomcics, Edward Tomcics' wife
The car that hit him came to a stop not far down the street, they said.
“I was waiting for him to walk in the door,” Barbara Tomcics said. “I just can’t believe he’s gone.”
Water Street is a narrow road along the Lehigh River in the Darktown section of Whitehall – so named because it was the last part of the area in the early 20th century to get electricity. There are no sidewalks on either side and the homes are close to the street.
Neighbors say they have complained for years about speeders and sought help to improve safety.
“We’re sick of this,” said Rick Reigle, who has lived there for 35 years.
He fashioned a cross with Ed’s name and a whiteboard sign that declared, “Stop killing our neighbors. Slow down,” placed on either side of the memorial.
Those who knew him said Ed had a kind heart and a reputation as a jokester.
“Any time someone needed something – whether it was plumbing, or electrical, or whatever – they would ask him,” said Barbara, his wife of nearly 44 years. “He would stop what he was doing and go help them. A flat tire, he was there.”
Ed dropped out of school as an 11th grader at Whitehall High School and joined the service. He became a U.S. Marine and served and fought in Vietnam, she said.
He worked 40 years as a forger at Phoenix Forging Co. in Catasauqua and retired early to care for his ailing mother, Barbara said. Ed was the youngest of six boys.
“He was a good son. And a good husband,” she said.
On Wednesday night, Ed left the house to pick up his granddaughters who had spent part of Christmas Day with other family, Barbara said. The granddaughters live with the Tomcicses and had just come inside as Ed parked the car across the street.
Moments later, they heard a collision.
Tomcics died of blunt force injuries and his death was ruled accidental, according to a news release by Lehigh County Coroner Dan Buglio.
Whitehall Township police did not return a message Thursday seeking details on the crash; family and neighbors said police administered sobriety tests to the driver and eventually took him away in a patrol car.
“They were here late at night,” Barbara Tomcics said of investigators. “There were parts of the car everywhere.”
Thirty years ago, neighbors said, a resident made a large sign urging people to slow down for children’s sake. It’s still on the side of a nearby building.
“That’s how long this has been going on,” Reigle said. “They just neglect you. It’s lawless.”
Neighbors plan to go to the Whitehall Township commissioners’ meeting on Monday, Jan. 13, to demand help, they said.
Barbara Tomcics acknowledged the street’s safety has been an issue for years. But what she really wants is her husband back.
“Now I wish I would have gotten them (the granddaughters) because I would’ve walked across the street faster,” she said through tears.
Besides the coroner’s office, Buglio said, the investigation is ongoing by Whitehall Township police and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office.
Funeral services are set for Friday, Jan. 3, at Brubaker Funeral Home, 327 Chestnut St., Coplay.
