Pat Rau was the kind of guy who was always there for his fellow truckers.

“He’d do anything to help you,” said Travis Burns, an OOIDA member from Claypool, AZ, who was a fellow driver and friend of Rau’s. “He’d help you tie your load down, help you tarp.”

Rau also spent time helping younger drivers, Burns, said, especially those who “genuinely wanted to learn.”

That commitment to helping the younger generation was especially apparent in his relationship with his son, Daniel.

“He would just bend the Earth for that kid,” Burns said. “He would spend every weekend with him, on the truck with him. That was their arrangement.”

Rau died late last year as the result of an auto accident in Banning, CA. Among the many friends and family he left behind was Daniel, who was 8 at the time of his father’s death.

Now, in honor of their fallen comrade, Rau’s friends and fellow OOIDA members have stepped up to lend his family a hand, setting up a trust fund to provide for his son’s education.

A dad on the road

Rau, a resident of Phoenix, AZ, drove a late ’90s Freightliner FLD Condo that he leased to System Transport. He had been in the business for more than 20 years.

Burns said his friend did a lot of agricultural hauling.

“He called it cow chow,” Burns said. “A lot of flatbed, a lot of dirt, a lot of end dump locational kind of stuff, a little general freight.”

Burns said that even when he was on the road, Rau did everything he could to be a good father to Daniel.

“Pat and I met before that kid could talk,” he said. “When we were on the road, he was always talking to me about how he hoped that he could be a good father to Danny, and that he wanted to have a good relationship with him.”

Rau always tried to make sure there was time in his life for Daniel, and he called him as often as he could – “sometimes every night,” Burns said.

“The kid’s pretty smart,” Burns said. “He (Pat) would like for him to stay in school, study and take care of business.”

A lasting friendship

Burns first met Rau in Los Angeles when the two became lost in the middle of the sprawling metropolis.

“We didn’t just run around confused, we were lost in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “We had no idea where we were at, and it took like an hour to find our way out.

The two truckers parted and wished each other a good trip. A short time later, Burns was taking a breather at a local hangout well-known to longtime truckers. He was the only customer in the place when another man walked in.

“He comes in and sits right across the table from me,” Burns said. “We were the only two people in the place. I told him something like, “You know, I know it’s crowded in here dude, but couldn’t you find another seat?’”

Rau said “You don’t remember me, do you?” The two struck up a conversation, and soon realized they knew some people in common. It was the beginning of a lasting friendship. The two stayed in touch for years, and worked for many of the same companies.

“It sort of stuck, you might say.”

Captain Winch Bar

Despite his gentle reputation and his size – “He’s pretty good size lad,” Burns said, “probably about 6 foot 4” – Pat Rau wasn’t all teddy bear. If you did him wrong, he would do what was necessary to defend himself.

Burns remembers an incident that occurred years ago in Arizona.

“Pat caught a guy trying to steal his tarps one night down in Tucson,” Burns said. “The guy ran away and Pat got out and he was a little mad.

“He swung that winch bar 50 foot, and broke one of their legs with it.”

Although that incident gave him his CB handle – “Captain Winch Bar” – it doesn’t really tell you what kind of a person Rau was.

“He had a pretty good attitude most of the time; he laughed a lot in the face of adversity,” Burns said. “Him and me, we traveled around a lot together and no matter what happened, he could always come up with a pretty good viewpoint. I can remember standing in blizzards and blinding rain. He would just hold his hand out and say what nice weather it was.”

A tragic end

The accident that caused Rau’s death occurred on Fifth Street, which runs beside Interstate 10 in Banning, CA. Rau was walking into the street from between two semis that were parked on the side of the road. The pavement was slightly wet from a rain shower.

A Toyota driven by local resident Jerred Reeder was headed west along the street, according to police reports. Reeder told police that Rau was looking down and did not see the car. Reeder hit his brakes, but was not able to stop the car in time.

“Pat was crossing the street in Banning to go to a Denny's we frequented when he was struck,” Travis Burns, an OOIDA member from Claypool, AZ, and longtime friend of Rau’s, wrote to Land Line.

Rau was pronounced dead later at a nearby hospital.

As family and fellow truckers gathered later to remember Pat Rau, it was obvious how committed he was to his chosen life.

The memorial at his service included flowers, a photo of Pat on the road with the OOIDA logo in the corner, and the famed winch bar – the very one he used that day – set as a cross. Nearby were photos from Pat’s life.

A number of Rau’s fellow OOIDA members – Chuck Kimmel, Dave Foster, Gary Day, Jim Hilliard, Paul Wilbur, Jim Hicks and Burns – were at the memorial service. They posed for a photo with Rau’s OOIDA jacket, and later with other family and friends.

But it was his commitment to Danny that was the most important. And the very people at that service started the fund for Danny. Burns worked with Larry Wilson – the southwest director for Fasttrack, who was also at the service – to set up the educational fund.

“Him and I sort of ramrodded this deal,” Burns said.

Many of the truck drivers in attendance contributed to the fund. Some gave hundreds of their own money – one trucker as much as $500. Now, the fund is up to $3,000. And Travis Burns knows that he and his fellow truckers did what Pat Rau would have wanted: “All of us pulling together to take care of that kid.”

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The fund for Daniel Rau’s education has been established at the Arizona State Savings and Credit Union. Donations should be sent to:

Cindy Tipton
Education Fund for Daniel Rau
Account Number 450030432
Arizona State Savings and Credit Union
PO Box 6637
Phoenix, AZ 85005

--by the Land Line staff