BILLINGS — A fire hydrant near the 1300 block of Broadwater Avenue is now part of a memorial for 32-year-old Billings man, Eric Osgood. Lined with flowers and a bandana, friends and family are gathering around the fire hydrant to recall the rich life of their loved one.
Osgood died in the early morning of Easter Sunday while he was driving his motorcycle on Broadwater Avenue. He was riding alongside his best friendbefore the two collided and Osgood hit a tree. The friend suffered minor injuries and was treated at the hospital.
“It’s not the day you want to lose a son, on Easter Sunday,” said Osgood's father, Donald Osgood, at the memorial Monday.
Just like his dad, Osgood was a biker with many friends.
“He was a very good, loving person who cared about his friends in the biking community and anyone else he run into,” Donald Osgood said.
Dan Moog was one of Osgood's closest friends. They were supposed to spend time together the night before he died.
“I talked to him at 9:36 and he was out hanging out with friends and what not, and I was waiting for my mom to get off work and I was supposed to go hang out with him and chill out,” Moog said.
Moog has known Osgood since he was 12, and the two would hang out nearly every weekend.
“We used to sit in his house in his garage and listen to music…All kinds of music, rock, country. You name it, he’d listen to it,” said Moog.
Osgood also shared a close bond with his fellow members of the PG Motorcycle Club, where friends like Nick Forslund called him "Socket."
“He was one of those guys you don’t ever forget. He was friends with everybody. Everywhere he went, he just wanted to be friends. He wanted things to be happy-go-lucky,” Forslund said.
One of Forslund's fondest memories of Osgood includes his two-year-old daughter.
“My daughter finally let him pick her up, and he got so excited he had to tell everybody that she finally let him and then five minutes later, she refused to give him a knuckle bump,” said Forslund.
Osgood had two young kids of his own, who are now mourning the loss of their father.
“Socket was an amazing person. He was a loving friend. A caring husband. He absolutely adored his kids,” said fellow PG member, Gerard "Lucky" Reynolds.
He also leaves behind a wife, Brooke.
“It’s a huge loss to our community. It’s a huge loss to the club. Personally, I feel like it’s a huge loss to this world. He was such an amazing person. He always saw the best of everybody,” Reynolds said.
It's a huge loss that will leave a hole in the hearts of many.
“He’s going to be missed. By the community. By his friends. Especially by his dad,” Donald Osgood said.
The Osgoods are in need of the community's support in the form of donations or meals. You can donate to their GoFundMe or their MealTrain.
