Biker who died after crash on Hilton Head bridge remembered for his drums and kindness
Donny Luciano always had a song in his heart.
Or, perhaps it was a beat.
He played more types of percussion than his loved ones could count, and he was usually spotted with his djembe — or drum hand carved from a tree trunk — slung over his shoulder.
You could find him at beach drum circles on Hilton Head, or jamming out at the Beaufort Water Festival.
Luciano, 55, a father of four, moved to Hilton Head from Greensboro, North Carolina, three years ago. In his time in the Lowcountry, he got involved in Bikers Against Bullies, a tough-guy-and-gal group of motorcycle riders who speak out against bullying.
That group placed a memorial cross for their “Donzi” on Sunday on U.S. 278.
Luciano died Nov. 3, several weeks after he was involved in a motorcycle crash on the Hilton Head Island bridges.
He is survived by his wife, Paulette, of Hilton Head; his four children, Vania, John, Gabe and Sterling; and dozens of friends spread across North Carolina, West Virginia and Japan.
A love of music
Luciano was born in Washington state and spent the first year of his life in Japan, where his father was stationed in the military.
He used to take pride in having learned how to use chopsticks before he learned how to use a fork and knife.
Luciano later found himself in Greensboro, where two of his children still live, and later in West Virginia, where he met his wife, Paulette.
Never one to take himself too seriously, Luciano formed a band named Steel Pterodactyl, where he played a variety of percussion instruments and traveled performing gigs.
“For him, it was the music more than anything,” Paulette said, remembering the weekends she and her friends spent traveling with the band. “He had a deep passion for music and all different types of music.”
Once he moved to Hilton Head, Luciano spent his weekends working on his motorcycles and kayaking the ever-changing waters of the Lowcountry.
Remembered for kindness
Despite his rock-and-roll exterior, Luciano is remembered by his friends and family as the most thoughtful person they knew.
He adored going to the grocery store and discovering new ethnic foods, and Luciano was known for dropping off wasabi peas and different flavored foods on friends’ doorsteps.
He loved sharing his Puerto Rican heritage with friends by cooking for them and sharing a cup of Café Bustelo coffee from its signature yellow and red tin.
“He was happiest when he was doing something for somebody, when he could help somebody,” Paulette said. “Everything he did in life he did thinking about other people.”
Luciano also loved to experience the Lowcountry from his motorcycle.
His family recalls a time he went to the store and the day was so beautiful that he kept riding until he realized he was in Charleston.
Although they were living separately, Paulette now sees Luciano everywhere she looks: in the peace lily he sent to propose to her that’s still planted outside her Hilton Head home. And in every cup of strong coffee.
U.S. 278 memorial
Luciano was heading to his job as a field surveyor on a rainy morning Sept. 28 when he switched lanes quickly to avoid a vehicle merging from the Bluffton flyover.
Police say he hit the car in front of him, and his family believes he laid down his bike on the highway.
He was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center for myriad injuries: to his brain, his lung, his shoulder and clavicle.
What followed was weeks of uncertainty as he experienced a heart attack and infections from his injuries.
There were bright spots, though.
Luciano woke up in the hospital and recognized his family, who could be by his side only virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions.
His death on Nov. 3 came after weeks of small improvements that were giving his family hope.
The crash that ultimately took Luciano’s life happened within two weeks of two other fatal crashes on Beaufort County bridges: A Sept. 19 crash on the McTeer Bridge in Port Royal that killed five members of the same family, and an Oct. 8 crash on the Hilton Head bridges that killed a 24-year old man.
On Sunday, on what would have been Luciano’s 56th birthday, his chapter of Bikers Against Bullies installed a cross memorial made from motorcycle parts on the Hilton Head bridges.
It will be there to help Luciano’s friends and family remember their loved one, but Paulette also hopes it’ll be a wake-up call to drivers.
“Every one of us forgets that every day we are hurling ourselves down the road in a deadly weapon, because we feel like we’re driving our living room,” she said.
“I hope for even a fleeting moment that [the memorial] makes people take a second, get out of their head and think, ‘let me let off the gas a little bit, put down the phone, take a deep breath, and drive safely.’”
This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
