In Memorium

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the death of my brother, Max Oldham. He was a 22 year old police officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was riding his police motorcycle for the beginning of his shift when a drunk driver crossed the centerline and struck his motorcycle head-on. Max died in the hospital several hours later. Eerily, the motorcycle on which he was riding was being ridden by another Albuquerque officer five months earlier when that officer, Richard Armijo, was killed while responding to a traffic accident.

Max's story can be seen at the Officer Down Memorial Page.

A cousin, John David Oldham, was a Trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety when he was killed in July, 1974, also by a drunk driver, while working a crash in North Texas. A second Trooper, Harold Hambrick, witnessed John David's death and died at the scene of a heart attack.

With my own 30+ year career in public safety, I've seen plenty more tragedy as a result of drunk drivers.

This seemed a fitting place for a tribute to Max.

That's a fairly recent photo of me in the background.