Tragic loss of brother leads to acts of kindness

FREMONT - On May 19, 2015, Christina Sloan’s world fell apart. That was the day her brother, John “Jay” Guerra, was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Guerra was on the 10-minute ride home from work in Marysville in the middle of the afternoon when a car pulled in front him.

“She said she didn’t see him. He crashed right into the side of her minivan,” said Sloan, of Fremont, who is the volunteer manager at ProMedica Hospice-Clyde.

The driver had been drinking but didn’t test over the legal limit for consumption.

“She said she’d had four beers, but it was over a span of time. She had the empty beer cans in her purse,” Sloan said.

Guerra left behind his wife of over 20 years, Yvonne, and their children Jacob and Aubri. Four days after her father’s death, Aubri attended her high school graduation.

“My brother and Aubri had a special relationship. They had worked really hard to get her to graduation,” Sloan said.

Guerra also left behind a grieving sister, one who remembers the amazing man he was.

“My brother was a lot of fun,” she said. “But I believe what his gift was, what connected him to everyone, was he could fix anything.”

Guerra often used that talent to help those around him, from fixing cars to repairing appliances.

“At the funeral, I got to meet all the people that loved him. It was comforting to hear all those stories from the people he helped,” Sloan said.

While eating at the Crazy Burrito restaurant in Marysville one day, the owner mentioned that his oven was broken. Guerra offered to look at it, identified the problem, and hand built a piece to fix it.

“After that, the owner wouldn’t let him pay for his food, and he catered Jay’s funeral dinner,” Sloan said. “Jay helped so many people. He couldn’t say no. That’s how cool he was. That’s who he was.”

The driver that killed Guerra was convicted of vehicular homicide and failure to yield. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail plus fines. Sloan was unhappy with the mild punishment.

“The crazy thing about it is that vehicular homicide is kind of in the same category as shoplifting and passing bad checks. They have similar punishments,” Sloan said.

Sloan could have easily embraced her anger and made it a permanent part of her new life without her brother. Instead, she has chosen to honor her brother by bringing as much good into the world as she can. She has established the “Do Good Day in Memory of Jay” Facebook page, which encourages people to do random acts of kindness on the 19th of each month.

“Three or four months after Jay passed, I decided to do something for me, because the 19th of each month hurt so incredibly much,” Sloan said. “I decided I’m just going to be sweet to people, even if that just means a smile.”

On the Facebook page, Sloan posts photos of Jay, words of encouragement and ideas for doing random acts of kindness.

“I’m encouraging people to make a difference, because that’s what he’d be doing if he was still alive,” Sloan said.

Sloan has “Random Acts of Kindness” cards that she gives to people when she does something nice for them. On the card is a photo of Jay and a request to pass the card along to someone else along with a random act of kindness.

“My goal is to inspire people to just be awesome to other people,” she said.

Sloan is also using the Facebook page to bring attention to distracted driving. Three months after Jay died, she and her husband were hit from behind while at a stop sign on their motorcycle. That driver, too, said she didn’t see the bike.

“I notice people texting, and I just want to scream. I think our society is in just such a hurry. I wish we’d slow down,” she said.

For now, Sloan is doing her part to make the world better and help keep her brother’s memory alive.

“This is to help me navigate through his loss. The only way I know to do that is to be nice to other people,” she said. “That way Jay still lives through me.”

Contact News-Messenger correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheri.trusty@gmail.com or 419-639-0662.