Rare road dedication for Clovis educator killed on a run. ‘He won’t be forgotten’

It was five years ago that Gavin Gladding was killed while training for a marathon on Friant Road in Fresno.

The 43-year-old Clovis Unified School District educator and environmentalist was well known in the community and his death became a rallying point for increased traffic safety and an impetus for Gavin’s Law, a proposed bill to change the state’s DUI laws.

Gladding was honored on Friday in a ceremony dedicating a portion of Friant Avenue to his name.

“Today, truly is a day of remembrance,” said Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau, who along with fellow Supervisor Nathan Magsig began working on the dedication last year.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the dedication and installation of two blue road signs at a meeting in February.

It’s not often that this kind of dedication gets made in Fresno County.

When it does, it’s to honor fallen law enforcement personal, like Fresno Police officer Phia Vang, who had a section of Highway 180 dedicated in his name last year.

Friday’s dedication was the first in Fresno County to memorialize a non-law enforcement member of the community.

The Gavin Gladding Memorial Roadway runs along Friant from Copper River Drive to Willow Avenue. It is marked by two blue signs — one visible in each direction of the road.

“This is the first and only blue sign on Friant,” Brandau said.

The educator and environmentalist

Several elected officials attended the ceremony, including State Assemblyman Jim Patterson, who introduced Gavin’s Law in 2019 and then twice more since.

It failed to pass out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee this year.

It was Patterson who originally approached the county about the possibility of the recognition.

He said Gladding’s life and work served as inspiration and that continues.

“Given such a Godly witness as Gavin,” Patterson said, “how should we then live to honor him?”

During the ceremony, Gladding’s father ran through his son’s biography as an environmentalist and eventual educator; from his days as a student at University of California Santa Barbara to his time living in a mud hut in Gambia, west Africa working with the Peace Corps.

In Fresno, Gladding spent 15 years with the San Joaquin River Parkway as an employee and volunteer before becoming a teacher. He taught environmental science, of course.

Eventually he became a vice principal in Clovis Unified.

Gladding’s wife, Susan Gladding, said that it remains difficult to process his death.

It’s easier, she said, every time she sees the people that he touched.

“He won’t be forgotten.”