Name: Dennis Pierce
My love affair with the Manomet Mystery Riders began with two phone calls. The first was from my cousin Terry Bradford, God rest her soul. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day. I was up on the pool deck skimming the pool, when my wife Colleen came outside holding the portable phone. She said it’s for you it’s your cousin Terry. We had a great conversation that day, during which Terry told me about an upcoming benefit ride she helped plan for Billy Walsh.
Billy was another long time Manomet resident who was, like my cousin Terry, battling terminal cancer. Terry and Billy Walsh used to go to treatments together and became very close. Terry knew firsthand how much of a financial burden this was on Billy Walsh’s family, since his battle with brain cancer began. Of course, I was on board with doing the benefit ride for Billy, especially finding out about it through my very close cousin Terry. Also, I remembered Billy Walsh back in the day, when he used to hang out with my cousin Billy Heres also from Manomet.
Well the day of the ride finally came, August 6, 2006, the riding weather couldn’t have been better. The ride itself for me was like a trip down memory lane. I’ve been coming to Manomet since my uncle moved here in 1965. As the ride snaked its way through Manomet, every new sight conjured memories of days gone by. As we rounded Manomet Point, I could recall going up there as a teenager after a hurricane, just to feel the power of Mother Nature.
The ocean churned with whitecaps as far as the eye could see, the gusts of wind still so powerful that I hugged a telephone pole to keep from being blown off the bluff.
As we cruised along White Horse Beach, I was a teenager again having breakfast at my Aunt May and Uncle Bill’s place, here’s the restaurant. I could still here my uncle telling me that the pond across the street from White Horse Beach is brackish. Is what? Blackish?? No brackish, meaning half fresh water and half salt water. It was the first time I ever heard the word brackish and now it echoed in my mind again. It’s funny how things like that stick in your mind.
As it turned out many MMR members supported that ride, along with Billy Walsh’s brothers Mike and John Walsh and my cousin Billy Heres. It was also obvious to me that my cousin Terry Bradford was passionate about this benefit, only four months from the end of her own life, she worked herself to exhaustion. Seeing this selfless act moved me in a way that goes beyond words. That was the day the seed was planted in my mind.
After Terry’s passing on December 11, 2006, that seed sprouted into The Terry Bradford Memorial Ride to benefit The American Cancer Society and to honor Terry’s life. Terry loved the ocean, which is why she moved to Manomet in the first place. So I dubbed the ride Terry’s Ride To The Tide. Now, all I needed were the riders to support the event.
I did say my love affair with MMR started with two phone calls. The second was to then MMR President, as now, Paula McCallum, to request that the MMR participate in Terry’s Ride To The Tide. Paula was very receptive to the idea. Also, as it turned out, founding member Bill Ferguson knew Terry’s husband Joe Bradford. After getting the yes vote, Scotty Smith did a great job mapping the ride, making sure the ride followed the ocean as much as possible.
The ride was a huge success thanks to Terry’s family, friends and the MMR. I was blown away by the MMR’s outpouring of generosity and willingness to help the cause. That was the turning point for me, the point of no return. I was star struck, head over heels, things would never be the same. I made a pact with myself right there and then. I would do all I could possibly do to help these awesome people that make up this awesome organization known as The Manomet Mystery Riders.