‘I Have No Children Now’ : For Grieving Mother, Loss of 2 Sons in Crash Climaxes Family Hardships

Michael and Bernardo Pires had gone scouting for a good spot to take their father fishing this weekend. But they never made it back home.

The two brothers were killed instantly Thursday when the motorcycle they were riding crashed into a van driven by a 17-year-old Lake Forest youth, authorities said.

“They were my only two sons,” sobbed Marilyn Pires, the 50-year-old mother of the two men. “I have no children now,” she said Friday.

Michael, 30, and Bernardo Jr., 28, died at the crash scene at the intersection of Ridge Route Drive and Elrond Lane.

The van’s driver, whose name was not revealed because he is a juvenile, was treated for minor injuries and released. California Highway Patrol spokesman Ken Daily said officers are still determining whether vehicular manslaughter charges will be sought against the youth.

Pires said her sons were returning home about 4:20 p.m. after looking for a site to take their father fishing this weekend. They were only a few blocks away from their parents’ apartment when the crash occurred.

Daily said the driver of the van, who was traveling southbound on Elrond, attempted to turn eastbound across Ridge Route. The youth apparently did not see the motorcycle coming in the opposite direction, Daily said.

Bernardo Jr., who was driving the 1980 Suzuki, tried to avoid the van, but slid into the left side of it.

Daily said one of the brothers was wearing a helmet, while another helmet was found a short distance away from the wreck.

“It’s speculative to say if he was wearing it or not,” Daily added. “It could have fallen off after the impact or it could have been latched onto the vehicle.”

The tragedy added to the hardships experienced by the Pires family over the past several years.

Pires said she, her husband and Bernardo Jr. moved to Orange County about two years ago after jobs in their native Massachusetts “began to dry up.” Bernardo Jr. had then rejoined the family after serving three years with the U.S. Army in Germany.

He was activated during the Persian Gulf War and served for several months at Ft. Devens, Mass., his mother said.

Bernardo Sr. worked for two years as an electronics assembler until he was laid off recently, Marilyn Pires said.

Michael, a father of four who lives in Chelsea, Mass., was also unemployed. He had come to Orange County to visit his family and to search for a job. After a Lake Forest auto-body shop offered to hire him to paint cars, Michael decided to leave for Massachusetts within the next two weeks and return with his wife and children to Orange County, Marilyn Pires said.

Employees of Urethane Technologies Inc. in Irvine, where Bernardo Jr. worked as a technician, were stunned after learning about his death Friday morning.

“Bernardo was a very keen and eager employee,” said Edward Morris Roe, the company’s chief financial officer. “He was very easy to train. We never had anybody who was so easy to teach. He was a breath of fresh air.”

Pete Ferry, 21, of Tustin fought back tears as he remembered his colleague.

“He’s a great guy to work with. He could make everybody laugh. We’re already missing him, and we’re all shaken by this news.”

Residents near the collision site said they plan to petition the Lake Forest City Council to make the intersection a four-way stop. Jean Gambrell, who has lived on Elrond Lane for 17 years, said she has witnessed many accidents there.

“We’ve had three fatalities in less than a month,” Gambrell said, referring to another fatal crash involving a motorcycle rider on New Year’s Eve. “What does it have to take to get the (authorities) to act?”

But Officer Daily said the road is not heavily trafficked, and may not warrant stop signs. He said a CHP investigation revealed that the man killed on New Year’s Eve, 22-year-old Paul Christopher Laird of Lake Forest, was traveling at 80 m.p.h. in a 45-m.p.h. zone when he struck an oncoming vehicle.

Meanwhile, Marilyn Pires and her husband were making arrangements late Friday to have their sons’ bodies shipped back to Massachusetts.

“We don’t have any money,” she Pires said, “but we’re going to come up with it somehow.”