PERHAM, Minn. (Valley News Live) –
A heartbreaking situation Wednesday night for family and friends who remember the lives of lovers.
A Perham couple died Tuesday afternoon in what they loved most, by riding at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
“All I know is that there are still two Harley Angels in the sky right now,” says friend Annie Squires.
There was not much of Jim Neyens who loved more than riding his motorcycle. He never missed a trip to South Dakota for the 10-day Sturgis Rally. This year, the woman he loved the most was Mary Aitken.
“You lived and died by his motorcycle,” says friend Nicole Hall. “The world is a little up today because he is no longer here.”
Jim and Mary have been together for almost two decades. The couple died Tuesday when they took a sharp turn and overturned their motorcycle.
They were on their way back to Sturgis from Montana.
“People say that when someone dies, but honestly, he was one of a kind,” Hall says. “There is no one else like him. He had a solid heart of gold. He really did.”
Hall has known Jim for 20 years. She says he had a personality bigger than Broadway and hugs bigger than a bear. Adding, he and Mary fit together like a hand and glove.
“Two wonderful people who have the biggest, most beautiful hearts,” Squires says. “I’ve never seen anything bad about her.”
Squires has been riding with Jim for the past three years. She’s still in Sturgis, and said it would never be the same without Jim and Mary.
“His motto was that you work hard, you play hard,” Squires says. “He loved that he was on his motorcycle. I think if he had a wish of a road he would go, it would have been the road he went.”
“The only end he can change is that Mary was with him,” Hall says. “But in a way, I think that’s why it happened. They were meant to be together forever.”
Family and friends indicate that they are working on starting an annual motorcycle rally in honor of Jim and Mary.
Copyright 2020 KVLY. All rights reserved.
