A few minutes ago I found out that one of my coworkers and someone who I liked very much died last night of a massive heart attack at age 35. Ashley Thomas “Eddie” Jinnette was our main welder in the custom shop, and while he has personally touched many bikes that have left this facility, he will be always remembered how his great attitude and personality touched all of us here. Despite being a fairly good sized guy, Eddie was an avid cyclist and very dedicated outdoorsman. If something good can be taken from this sad situation, Eddie died during an activity he really loved, hunting.
Hopefully he is now hunting, fishing, cycling and welding more cute little titanium butterflies wherever he may be now.
That is a big loss and I am sorry to hear about this. There are so precious few good, talented people who dedicate themselves to what they love.
Jinnette does leave a fine and lasting legacy, though his departure is far too premature. The bicycles he built and helped build will carry people on fine rides around the world for yers to come, producing pleasant memories that will outlast even the titianium they were made on.
What better legacy could a person aspire to than this, to have given birth to so many smiles and so much fun?
I’m sorry to hear this Herbert, and my best wishes to you as always,
Sorry to hear it. Guessing he may have worked on my Litespeed many years ago. He does have a legacy of having much of his work on the road somewhere sometime. Few of us can say that.
I hope no one thought I had gone of the deep end when I talked about him welding titanium butterflies in a better place now. Here is actually an example of what an awesome artist he was.
Eddie was the guy who welded all of our frames. I had a good half hour talk with him last Thursday about what motivated him in his work. As only Merlin’s fourth head welder in its history, he followed in the best tradition of what Merlin has always meant to us. He always worked to make the next frame better than the last one. It showed. A craftsman, a wizard, an artist, on his worst day he could weld circles around almost anyone else I have ever worked with.
I will miss Eddie on my visits to Merlin and I will miss seeing the beauty of his work.
My husband and I knew Eddie and his wife very well. They were our best friends. I received a phone call just after Eddie passed away and could not believe it. It was a tragedy. We have had the pleasure of talking to Eddie and have had many laughs with him and we will surely miss those great times. I am sorry for the whole family because his future was cut so short. I know that he will be sadly missed. Someone told me that our life is never taken too soon because God has everything planned for us and God only takes the best. Well, he got Eddie and those people that new him got to see the best of him and now it is Gods turn.
Hello, I am Eddie’s step-mother Vickie. It has touched the family’s heart to know how much Eddie was loved and thought of in his short time here on earth. We appreciate all your kind words and prayers for the all days to follow for his wife Karen and their two daughters; his mother Kathy and his two sisters and brother. It was very hard on the family having lost his father only one short year ago but we know he is walking those streets of gold with his father and the Lord. His father Tommy had said so many times how proud he was of Eddie as a son, husband and father himself. It was his father that first taught Eddie to weld and he carried that on to new heights and he taught him to hunt and he excelled in that too. Simply to know Eddie was to like/love him he was a warm and giving young man. I feel like Eddie would want me to ask you one question ~ “Do you know where you will be spending eternity?”
If you would like to e-mail the family we do check this site or you can e-mail me and I will share it with the rest of the family.
As I saw that he was in the “Custom” Shop - I would like to think that he made my Ultimate. It would be an honor to me if he infact did. Sounds like a great guy - sorry for the loss all, and mom, there are no words that I would even begin to say to you that would make things better.
