The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

‘Motorcycle Eddie’ drove most of his life




A younger Eddie Enoch grins while hugging his tarp-covered Harley-Davidson Electra Glide nearly 20 years ago. Enoch passed away last month. SUBMITTED

A younger Eddie Enoch grins while hugging his tarp-covered Harley-Davidson Electra Glide nearly 20 years ago. Enoch passed away last month. SUBMITTED

To those who knew him best, Edward “Motorcycle Eddie” Enoch, 88, was a man who took pride in three things: his military service, truck driving and motorcycles. 

“He’d talk to you about any of the three of them as long as you’d want to sit and listen. He would talk and be glad to talk about it,” said Terry Enoch, 63, Eddie’s oldest son. 

Eddie, who served in the Navy, was diagnosed with blood cancer and given a life expectancy of 3-6 months, according to Terry. The family was told “he’d go down quick,” but he surpassed the initial prognosis by about six months. Eddie passed away in January.

“He lived a good long life, you know, done what he wanted to do,” Terry said. 

Terry, a truck driver for Ozark Motor Lines, followed in his father’s occupational footsteps work and shared Eddie’s love of motorcycles. Eddie drove for many years for Roadway Express.

He admitted that he wasn’t able to pinpoint where his father’s interest in motorcycles began because they had been in the picture well before he was born. He does recall his father talking about owning a Whizzer Motorized Bicycle in his younger years.  

“I remember him telling us a story about how he bought this old motorcycle from a guy there in Lebanon, and he’d painted it with a brush and had to wire it back together and work on it,” Terry said. 

Terry said he didn’t know who was the first to call his father “Motorcycle Eddie,” but it was an appropriate fit because “he always had a motorcycle.” The name stuck, and he used it for years as his CB radio handle during his trucking days.

Eddie’s cycle collection eventually grew to include a blue and white 1964 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, a 1996 Heritage Softail and an award-winning burgundy 2008 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Trike. Over the years, the set has been split up among Terry and his siblings, Suzanne Solis and James Enoch. 

“Of course, we’re not going to do anything with ‘em. That’s dad’s,” Terry said.

Last October, Terry kept up the tradition of entering his father’s cycle in the Ralph Maddux Memorial Motorcycle Show that takes place in Granville each fall. With a detail job, the father-son duo took home the “Best of Show” and “People’s Choice” trophies. 

While they never built bikes from the ground up, the two often worked on bikes together when they weren’t riding. 

Terry’s wife, Micki, says she remembers Eddie for his spirit that seemed far younger than his years. 

“He was a corker. He was like an 88 year-old 12 year old,” Micki said of the man who had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Whether it was getting a bird’s nest lodged in his helmet or mistaking a cow pasture for a motorcycle parts shop, Eddie would never get angry. He’d just laugh it off, according to Terry. 

“He was just a proud man and we’re very proud of him,” Micki said. 

Motorcycle enthusiast Eddie Enoch raises two trophies for ‘Best of Show’ and ‘People’s Choice’ from the 5th annual Ralph Maddux Memorial Motorcycle Show last October. Enoch passed away last month. SUBMITTED

Motorcycle enthusiast Eddie Enoch raises two trophies for ‘Best of Show’ and ‘People’s Choice’ from the 5th annual Ralph Maddux Memorial Motorcycle Show last October. Enoch passed away last month. SUBMITTED

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