Behind the smile was courage
Bryan Tyler Jobe, 23, lost a leg in a car wreck seven years ago. Last week, another crash took his life.
By MARK WIEBE
The Kansas City Star
Nearly seven years ago, Bryan Tyler Jobe lost his leg in an automobile accident. But he didn’t lose his sense of humor, his courage, his love for music or his zest for life.
Now, Jobe’s family and friends are hanging on to those qualities, the things that made his life one to admire, as they mourn Tyler’s death at age 23 from another automobile accident.
Neither was his fault.
They’re remembering the courage he showed by returning to the Piper High School wrestling team his senior year — without his lower right leg.
They’re remembering the songs he wrote, the open-mic nights in Manhattan, Kan., where he would play his guitar, and the plans he had made to spend the rest of his life helping other amputees.
And, of course, they’re remembering his ability to tease a smile out of people, even when they felt like crying.
Bridgette Jobe, his mother and head of the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Wyandotte County, said her son’s humor was on full display the night he lost his leg.
“Everybody was just so sad, and even just that night he was making jokes, making people laugh,” said Bridgette Jobe, who buried her son Saturday. “He had his moments when he’d cry and get sad, angry. But he had this ability in every situation to make you laugh.”
People often asked Tyler — that’s what everyone called him — about his leg. He didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Every time it was something different,” Bridgette Jobe said. “It was a shark bite, or he was a Vietnam veteran. … Obviously, he wasn’t a Vietnam veteran.”
One time when Tyler was having trouble with his prosthetic, his mother asked him how his leg was doing. “And he’d say, ‘Well, it hasn’t grown back.’ ”
This was the singular fact that Tyler couldn’t ignore, didn’t want to ignore: His leg wasn’t going to grow back.
A guardrail severed the leg below the knee in December 1999 when Jobe was involved in a single-vehicle wreck in Kansas City, Kan. One of his best friends, Kevin Jaklevic, was driving.
Jaklevic felt horrible. Tyler wouldn’t let him.
“First thing that ran through my head was I just ruined my best friend’s life,” Jaklevic said. “But he wouldn’t let me be sad about it. He wouldn’t let anybody feel sorry for him.”
He certainly didn’t want pity when he took to the wrestling mat his senior year at Piper.
Another good friend, Grant Hamilton, wrestled on Tyler’s team that year. He recalled how Tyler crawled onto the mat at the beginning of each match and how he would end it by rising on his left leg to shake his opponent’s hand.
“It was something else,” said Hamilton, who roomed with Tyler at Kansas State University until this year. “I think they pretty much told him he was done, he wouldn’t be able to do it again. But he was a ridiculously tough person.”
Tyler lost several matches at the beginning of the season, but he eventually won some.
“He ended up all right,” Hamilton said. “It was kind of like starting out from scratch for him. But he definitely got it figured out.”
The other thing Tyler figured out was that he wanted to use his experience as an amputee to help others.
His family said he transferred to Fort Hays State University this year to study kinesiology. He planned to learn how to make prosthetics.
“After he lost his leg, he didn’t just want to walk. He wanted to run and play and ski,” Bridgette Jobe said. “So he wanted to work with young athletes who had just lost a limb. He talked about setting up a rehab.”
Those dreams were cut short Tuesday evening on Interstate 70, his mother said, when Tyler emerged from a construction zone while driving home to Kansas City, Kan., from Hays. The Highway Patrol accident report said a westbound vehicle crossed into Tyler’s lane.
He was flown to a Wichita hospital, where he was pronounced dead early Wednesday morning.
Bridgette Jobe recalled talking to her son before that night. He told her about the friends he had had over for the Oktoberfest in Hays. “He said, ‘You know, Mom, it was just good times.’ ”
Friends. Good times. Music. Laughter. These were the things Tyler embraced. Knowing that provided some comfort to Bridgette Jobe.
“He was just so happy because his friends had been there.”
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To reach Mark Wiebe, call (816) 234-5995 or send e-mail to mwiebe@kcstar.com.
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