Darien Trucker Killed In Second I-55 Crash Was ‘Loving, Hardworking Family Man’

When Deividas Mockus came home from work last Friday he told his wife, Neringa, that he wanted the whole family to attend an outdoor concert at a local park.

“I told him the kids had to go to bed early because it was summer,” Nerina Mockus said. “He had this urge of doing so much. He said ‘what if next Friday it’s raining or I’m stuck at work. If we can do this, let’s do it today.’”

By Monday afternoon, Deividas would be dead, killed in the second of two deadly crashes on I-55 near Route 6 in Channahon Township.

The Darien man was exactly a month away from celebrating his forty-second birthday when his semi-truck collided with another mere moments after the first crash that killed four people three miles away.

Although it has not yet been determined if Deividas died of injuries related to the accident, his family disputes news reports that he may have died from an unrelated medical condition. The driver of the second semi-truck received minor injuries. The accident remains under investigation.

Instead, family and friends are focusing on the loving, hardworking family man with a passion for travel, who immigrated from Lithuania with his high school sweetheart to the United States in 1998.

“We went to the same school and started dating when we were 16 years old,” Neringa said. “We were high school sweethearts. We’ve been together since 1989. On July 20, we celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary.”

Deividas, who also went by the name David, was born Aug. 21, 1972 in Kaunas, Lithuania. After graduating from high school in 1990, he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He and Neringa lived in London before coming to the United States, where the couple married in 2000.

Although he had a college degree in Lithuania, he turned to trucking to provide for his family in the United States. Deividas was an independent driver who worked locally. He was home every night to read bedtime stories to his son, Simas, 5, and daughter, Emilija, 10.

His wife said that it was her husband who researched and meticulously planned the family’s annual vacations.

“He encouraged our children to travel,” Neringa said. “When I told my children that their father died, my daughter asked who would plan our vacations now. My son is worried about who will repaint his room.”

The Mockuses’ neighbors in Darien are rallying around the family and have started an online fundraiser at YouCaring.com, to help pay for Deividas’ funeral costs because he didn’t have life insurance.

“He was a hardworking, loving guy,” neighbor Kimberly Krause said. “He would do anything in the world for his family and friends.”

In addition to his wife and children, Deividas leaves his father, Algirdas Mockus, and his brother, Mantas. When his father and brother arrived from Lithuania and London on Thursday, they went with Neringa to place flowers at the crash site.

In addition to neighbors, the family has received a huge outpouring of support from the Chicago-area’s close knit Lithuanian community, which is coming to the aid of one of their own. 

“We are getting so much support from our friends and his classmates in Lithuania. Strangers from the Lithuanian community have sent me emails,” Neringa said. “I don’t know what I’ll do without him. He was my whole life and love.”

Visitation for Deividas “David” Mockus is scheduled for 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 25, at Adolf Funeral Home, at 7000 S. Madison St., Willowbrook.

Family and friends will meet at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 26, for the funeral Mass at Nativity BVM Church, at 6812 S. Washtenaw Ave., in Chicago (Marquette Park). More information is available at AdolfServices.com.

To donate to the Deividas Mockus memorial fund, visit YouCaring.com.