On the road to memorialize Carrie

Any holiday is hard when you’re the mother of a murder victim.

For Wendy Cadwalader, Christmas and Memorial Day are the hardest – the latter because of the proximity to her daughter’s death five years ago.

That’s why Cadwalader chose to have the Caring for Carrie Bike Run and Benefit on Memorial Day weekend the last four years.

“That way, I’m surrounded by people and kept busy.… It doesn’t get any easier. They tell you time heals all wounds. But it doesn’t,” Cadwalader said on Sunday at the fourth annual benefit.

Carrie Martin was 20 when she was stabbed to death in her Larksville apartment in May 2004.

One assailant, Daniel Kukuchka, committed suicide while awaiting trial. The other, Joseph Gacha Jr., is serving a life sentence after his September 2006 first-degree murder conviction.

“We’re trying to keep her memory alive and help other kids to fulfill their dreams, the kind of dreams she was never able to finish because of her life being taken from her,” Cadwalader said.

Proceeds from the ride and festival go to the Carrie Martin “We Can Make the World a Better Place” Memorial Scholarship Fund, administered by the Luzerne Foundation. The annual scholarship is awarded to a student at West Side Area Career and Technology Center in Pringle. Carrie was a 2002 graduate of the school.

The day began at the Luzerne County Fairgrounds in Lehman Township, where Carrie would show horses. She wanted to start a riding school for physically challenged children.

Scores of bikers rode through the Back Mountain from the fairgrounds to Konefal’s Grove in Jackson Township for the picnic.

Funds were raised through ride registrations, raffles and sales of food, T-shirts and other items. Strawberry Jam and 3rd Degree performed live.

Tom Lentz, of Wyoming, said he and his friends from the Wyoming Valley Motorcycle Club attended the event “because we’re avid riders and we try to support good causes.”

John Hutchins, of Dallas, said the event has become a tradition for himself and other members of the Pride Motorcycle Club, based at SCI Dallas, where he works as a prison guard.

Although he didn’t know Carrie, Hutchins knew her grandfather Butch Grey. “He was a member of the Idetown Fire Co. with us years ago,” Hutchins said while standing near two photo montages of various occasions throughout Carrie’s life.