In the wee hours of Aug. 15, 1998, Connie and Jeffrey “Jake” Reynolds of rural Bellefontaine got a phone call, the likes of which strikes fear into every parent’s heart.
The caller ID’d themselves as being from The Ohio State University Trauma Center in Columbus.
“We have your son Ryan here,” Connie was told.
Unbeknownst to Connie and Jake, Ryan had been involved in a late-night single-car accident in Logan County, only about five minutes from where he lived with his parents.
He swerved to miss a tire and rim that likely fell off another vehicle into the middle of the road, but still struck the tire and his vehicle went off the left side of the road. His passenger was unhurt, but, as Connie Reynolds learned over the phone, Ryan had been critically injured and had been taken by helicopter to Columbus.
Ryan died from his injuries before his mom and dad could make it to Columbus.
The Reynolds were understandably devastated, a grief that was compounded by the fact that while the accident occurred only five minutes from Ryan’s home where he lived with his parents, it took several hours for Connie and Jake – as Ryan’s next of kin – to be notified of the tragedy, and only then by the OSU Trauma Center.
At the time, there was no state law in place requiring local governments to have a “next of kin” notification protocol in place. Connie has made it her mission to rectify that situation.
As a result of Connie’s lobbying and testimony regarding notification of the next of kin before the Ohio General Assembly, Senate Bill 244 bill was passed and Governor Bob Taft signed into law Section 4501.80 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) which took effect October 5, 2000. The statute requires law enforcement agencies in Ohio put in place “(p)rocedures for determining and notifying next of kin” of a person who either dies or suffers a life-threatening injury in a motor vehicle accident.
Fast forward 23 years. Connie and Jake moved to South Carolina many years ago, but only learned last May (from a friend who still lives in Ohio) that the Next of Kin forms, now commonly referred to as N.O.K., were available to the public at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices statewide in 2007, giving those who are obtaining or renewing their licenses or doing other motor vehicle business a chance to list their N.O.K in the state database.
But this form, while recognizing other N.O.K. Program Initiators, did not include the Reynolds family and their story. So Connie again contacted the Ohio General Assembly, and working with Representatives Tim Barhorst (R-85) and Speaker Pro Tempore Scott Oelslager (R-48) who was in office when the original bill was passed and remembered Connie’s testimony, a new N.O.K form was designed that acknowledges the Reynolds family as Program Initiators. It is now available at all BMV offices, complete with a picture of Ryan in the upper left-hand corner.
“Most of the people in Logan County don’t even know that this law exists because of Ryan, and what is being done because of Ryan,” Connie said in a phone interview this past weekend. “(Rep. Oelslager) said that Ryan’s picture is never coming off this form.”
An avid golfer, Ryan is also remembered and honored with the annual Ryan Reynolds Memorial Golf Tournament, which is hosted in Logan County each year. Eight high school boys golf teams participated in the Ryan Reynolds Memorial at Liberty Hill G.C. on Aug. 8, 2024, with St. Marys taking home the title.