Chopper bike built in tribute
By Sean Fawcett
Bikers have real big hearts.
Case in point: this past Saturday’s Annual Hearts and Harleys 2024 Poker Run. The ride, beginning at Nancy’s Country Kitchen on the White Horse Pike and ending at The Watering Hole in Weymouth, raised $3,500 with a specially built chopper called “Captain Cow” highlighting the event.
Tuckerton garage owner Jon Miller of Jon Miller Car Care, airbrush artist Jeffrey Martinez and paint and body specialist Anthony Moresco of TonyMexx Custom Painting, along with Hearts and Harleys President John Pabst, constructed the Captain Cow Chopper to raise awareness and funds to combat domestic violence.
Captain Cow is a tribute to Pabst’s son, Gavin, and wife Michelle, who were murdered in a heinous act of domestic violence some ten years ago. Captain Cow comes from Gavin’s favorite superhero, Captain America, and for Michelle, who was nicknamed “Moo Moo.”
Pabst and Miller– who had a shared friend in Tony Lafera, a trained nurse who died treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic– got together to build a bike to honor Gavin, Michelle and Tony.
Tony was Miller’s best friend since the fourth grade and a colleague of Pabst’s at Hearts and Harleys.
Miller, who’s rebuilt the “Back to the Future” DeLorean time machine to promote the Broadway musical adaptation of the movie, found a perfect bike to rebuild with Pabst, Martinez and Moresco, bringing Captain Cow to life and raising spirits and awareness and to honor the memories of the friend and family they had lost.
Miller summed up his part of building the bike. “Because I can and Tony can’t,” said Miller. “This was Tony’s vision. For a long time, Tony told me there was a great man (John Pabst) I needed to meet. He said we represented a lot of the same things.
“Everything Tony tried to do he failed at except saving lives. He was a real hero and the one thing he was really passionate about was Hearts and Harleys.”
Saturday’s Poker Run was a monumental success with 150 riders registered and 185 participants overall, including volunteers.
“The day was a total success,” said Miller. “Building Captain Cow was a lot of fun. It came out beautifully.”
To learn more about Hearts and Harleys and/or donate, please contact John Pabst at john.pabst@heartsandharleys.org today.
