BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kimberly Miller went to the Pizza Hut on Beckley Road last Friday morning just to make sure everything was going okay. It’s what she does from time-to-time considering she’s an assistant manager there. However the moment she stepped inside that day a co-worker asked if they could talk outside. Within minutes, Miller was in tears.
“I thought she was lying,” said Miller who was told that morning that her friend and co-worker Kathie Thomason died. “Immediately I just I collapsed. I fell to the ground. I cried for a longtime.”
Miller then called the general manager, she said, who was already on his way. They learned that around 3:45 that morning Thomason and her boyfriend of 30 years Howard Bergman crashed into a large tree lying in the middle of the road on M-66. The tree sheared off the roof of the car, killing them instantly.
“She was a major pillar in this community being here for 30 years,” said Miller during an interview at the Pizza Hut. “She knew her customers so well. So well. I mean they could be gone for a whole month and Kathie will go ‘Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi, I’ve gotcha.'”
It’s because of her love for the customers and co-workers that all three Pizza Huts in Battle Creek — Beckley Road, Michigan Ave, and Columbia Ave — are holding a fundraiser for her family on Tuesday April 4. Miller said the family desperately needs the money to cover funeral costs.
“Anybody can come in and all the sales we’re going to donate 20 percent of it to the family for their time of need,” said Miller. “And then we started theGoFundMe pagethat has been going on since I started it Friday.”
By midday Monday over $7,000 had been raised with donors posting sweet messages for the family. Customers too expressed their condolences in a book the staff at the Pizza Hut left for them to sign when they dined at their restaurant. Miller isn’t surprised at the overwhelming response. Both Kathie and Howard were deeply loved.
“Howard was a great man,” said Kathy who always made him his favorite steak sandwich whenever he visited Kathie. “He was also one of those people that if you were in a bad mood, and Howard walked though the door, you smiled. You just couldn’t help it.”
Miller said the fundraiser ends when doors close tomorrow. But the Beckley location will accept donations through the end of the week.
“Kathie and Howard were two of the greatest people I’ve ever met,” said Miller through her tears. “The family is in desperate times of need right now. They’re expenses are not covered by any means.”
