People closest to Roger Thomas Jr. said he was a simple man who had an undeniable glow about him that attracted people.

“It was just there, you know, and when people were down, he was there to make them laugh,” Dameon Reed, a close friend of Thomas’, said Friday.

Thomas, 22, died Thursday night at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., after being seriously injured Monday — his birthday — in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 40 west of the South Lawrence Trafficway.

His wife, Mandy, said he was on his way to work at a construction job in Stull.

He had attempted to pass a pickup truck in a no-passing zone as he was driving west on U.S. 40. Thomas tried to stop when he saw a Chevrolet Cavalier heading toward him in the eastbound lane, but the two cars collided head-on, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Mandy Thomas said Roger had been unconscious since the collision and on life support. The family made the decision to let him go, she said, because it was the way he would have wanted it.

“He fought really hard, but when he went, he went with dignity,” she said Friday.

Mandy Thomas, 22, said she met Roger more than four years ago through a mutual friend. They married about two years ago and have an 18-month-old daughter, Megan.

Roger, Mandy and Megan Thomas

The couple bought their first house in December. Mandy Thomas said they talked about remodeling the house in a couple of years. She said Roger insisted upon doing it himself.

“He was at that point where he was getting his life pointed in the direction where he wanted to go,” Mandy Thomas said. “He was looking toward the future.”

She said their daughter seemed to know something had happened, but was too young to understand her father’s death.

“We’ve got a lot of family and friends, but nobody is going to be able to fill his shoes and be her dad,” Mandy Thomas said. “But we’re sure as hell going to try.”

Reed said he felt like he had lost a brother. He had known Roger Thomas since the two attended Central Junior High School, and they were inseparable.

Audio: Mandy Thomas, part 1 Audio: Mandy Thomas, part 2 Audio: Mandy Thomas, part 3 Audio: Mandy Thomas, part 4 Obituary: Roger Allen Thomas Jr. (09-25-04)

“I think he’s probably the nicest person on this planet, honestly,” Reed said. “He had no enemies. There isn’t a single person who didn’t like him.”

Mandy Thomas said she hoped her husband’s death would help people learn to slow down in their daily lives.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re 15 minutes late to work, because I’m sure your boss would rather have you there late than to not have you there,” she said.