Scores of running shoes started turning up on Tulsa’s South Sheridan Road bridge last week, a memorial to Michael Dean Reid, a longtime runner, respected educator and coach, and devoted husband and father.

Reid died at age 49 in a hit-and-run incident adjacent to the bridge early the morning of January 3.

“You never want to lose anybody,” said Johnny Bilby, assistant superintendent of Sapulpa School District where Reid served in the administration as accountability director. “But Michael would have wanted to go out running. That was him. It was something he did every morning before he came to work and he loved running races with his family. He just loved to run.”

A native of Everett, Washington, Reid worked in Oklahoma public education for more than 20 years. He held teaching and administrative positions at several schools in Muskogee and Sapulpa districts near Tulsa.

“Michael was always trying to find new ways to help kids learn,” Bilby said. “Two or three times a week everybody would get an email from him about something he’d read the night before or early that morning. It would always have to do with a better way of teaching, some new approach that maybe we hadn’t thought about introducing to our kids.”

During his own childhood, Reid played baseball and football, and he wrestled. When he started his teaching career, he coached several other sports, including basketball, gymnastics, soccer, tennis and track and field.

“He coached just about everything,” said Shannon George, daughter of Reid’s wife, Linda Reid. “Mike was one of those people that if you asked him whether he could coach something, he’d say ‘I can do that!’ even if he’d never done it himself. And he’d be real good at it. He was naturally very athletic and had a great mind for knowing how to help people improve in any sport.”

Reid started running early in his career, and it was an activity he pursued daily for two decades and also shared with family members and friends. “When he started in the ’90s he trained to run marathons,” said Shannon George. “And then it became just his regular form of exercise and his day always started with a run. We’d do 5Ks together as a family, and we did the Tulsa Run 15K several times. He was always up for a challenge, and if we could do it together, it made things even more fun.”

A hip replacement about 10 years ago sidelined Reid for awhile, but he eventually returned to running and races up to half marathon. He also regained his competitive nature and loved to battle it out with his kids.

“He would be bummed if we all walked away with medals and he didn’t get one in his category,” George said. “So we loved to razz him if he didn’t place in his age division. It was always our goal to beat him, and it always aggravated him. Of course he’d be happy for us, but he really wanted to beat us.”

The collision that claimed Reid’s life is still under investigation. Police say that at about 5:30 a.m. Reid was running along Tulsa’s 4.1-mile Creek Turnpike Trail. When he reached South Sheridan Road, Reid began to cross the two-lane, relatively lightly-traveled street when he was struck by a northbound white truck or SUV. Debris from the impact was found at the scene by police, who responded to a 5:48 a.m. call reporting a man down in the roadway. The driver of the vehicle apparently drove off. No witnesses have come forward.

Reid’s wife, Linda, is also an educator and taught for 12 years in the Muskogee public school system. In addition to his wife and her children, Shannon George, Caitlin Hasler, Bryan Cage, and John Hasler, Jr., Reid is survived by his parents, Bill and Jimmie Reid of Fayetteville, Arkansas, two sons, Brandon Reid and Shawn Reid, a sister, Christina Stech, a brother, Phillip Reid, and several grandchildren.

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