By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer

OKEANA - On Saturday, a day after her "daredevil" teenage son was killed in a motorcycle crash, Cathy Strunk pushed past her grief and pleaded with his friends: "Please, please don't do this to your mothers. Be careful. Think before you act."

Terry Strunk Jr., 19, who lived in this small Butler County community 12 miles west of Fairfield, died Friday evening following a crash near Miami Whitewater Forest in western Hamilton County.

A 2002 graduate of Badin High School in Hamilton, Strunk became at least the 18th Greater Cincinnati teen to die in a traffic crash this year.

"Every time a kid was killed, I'd show him the (newspaper) story," Mrs. Strunk said. "He (thought) I worry too much. ... I guess all kids think their parents are worried too much. He never worried. He was always adventurous, our daredevil kid. ... And he just always seemed to work his way out of it somehow."

At the time of Strunk's crash just before 6:30 p.m. Friday, he was trying to get past about five cars that seemed to be moving slowly, his mother said, adding, "The kids need to slow down and enjoy life in a different way than the fast pace that they're going."

Mrs. Strunk said she had warned her son to be careful and had begged him to get rid of the motorcycle - but he promised to always wear a helmet.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said Strunk was wearing a helmet while on his 1994 Kawasaki northbound on Ohio 128 near Mount Hope Road. While "passing cars left of the center line in the southbound lane of travel," the motorcycle struck a northbound Ford Explorer that was turning left onto Mount Hope Road in Crosby Township, investigators said, forcing both vehicles off the road and into a wooded area. No speed estimate was available. Investigators ruled out alcohol or drugs as factors.

The driver of the Explorer, Steve Smith, 44, of Harrison, was taken to Franciscan-Mount Airy Hospital, where he was treated and released.

A helicopter flew Strunk to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Now Mrs. Strunk is working with Charles Young Funeral Home in Ross Township to plan her son's funeral. She said she was considering including his wrecked motorcycle in the service. "I think kids need to see this," Mrs. Strunk said. "I think they're driving crazy on those things."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com