This memorial website was created in the memory of our loved one, Sol Plante who was born in North Carolina on August 19, 1973 and passed away in New Hampshire on January 08, 2005 in a car accident at the age of 31. We will love and keep him alive in our hearts forever.There are so many things about sol I could say, but no way to really get across how special he was to everyone who knew him, and loved him. He is my hero, my best friend, my soul mate, he was everything to me. He gave me an amazing life filled with so much love, and 5 beautiful children. His memory will live on through them, they carry his smile, his eyes, his heart, and his amazing ability to love. I have built this page for both Sol, and the children he had to leave behind. With the help of everyone who knew and loved sol, I’d like to make a place where the children can go when they are older to read about the things people remember, and loved about their father. Please help me make a remarkable place for them to learn, and know who their father was. Thank you, Misty
 
  The following is a tribute Columnist Steve Gilbert wrote, and had printed on the front page of the city newspaper.



KEENE  SUNDAY  SENTINEL

New Hampshire's Oldest Newspaper ... Guarding the Past, Tending Tomorrow
Sunday, January 16^th 2005

Plante: A Man of God, Family

Father of four remembered

     A SLICE OF LIFE     
   by     
Steve Gilbert 
                              Sentinelcolumnist                                    
                                               
          Who was Sol Plante ? Sol Plante left poems and love letters around the house 10 years into his marriage: he helped guide a brother-in-law through a severe depression: he saved a life at an accident scene at age 19; he reconnected his wife with her estranged father. He was a "goof", says his step-mother with reverance: owls spooked him; the song "He Touched Me" inspired a deep relationship with God; he tutored his mother-in-law through her driver’s license road test (twice); he was at the forefront of family jokes. His wife, Misty, who is three months pregnant, and their four children - Tyler, 9, Nicholas, 6, Dylan, 4, and Alexis, 7 months - meant everything to him.Sol Plante, 31, a resident of Walpole for about a year, wasn’t a newsmaker, but he was in the news last weekend as the victim of a tragic accident.Plante was killed on Route 12 in Westmoreland when, according to police, the driver of a truck in the opposite lane lost control and slammed into Plante’s truck, sending them both over an embankment.
By all accounts, on a snowy Saturday morning, Plante was at the wrong place at the wrong time.It could have been any of us.
But of all things Sol was, anger wasn’t one of them. Thursday’s heart-wrenching funeral in Keene may have rung out a lifetime of tears and emotion, but it spilled no bitterness — not at the circumstances, not at the other driver, not at God. "You can’t be angry, because that’s not what Sol would want," says his stepmother Jane-Ellen. "If he was here, he’d be the ringleader of all of this. He used to tell me laughter is the medicine for the soul." Sol’s sense of humor and generosity defined his being; his family and his friends say. Before the funeral, his brother, Michael, and brothers-in-law J.P. and Nate  all got tattoos on their arms in solidarity. The symbol, "elder brother" with Sol’s name, are now forever a part of them. "Growing up, we had our share of bouts as brothers, but he was really caring — he would take care of me", says Michael, 23, who is eight years younger than Sol. J.P.  is stationed in Atlanta with the Army National Guard, and says Sol pulled him through a very dark period in his life. He went through a divorce, didn’t have a place to live, and yet Sol invited him to move in with his young family, where he stayed for a year. "Sol was there to hold my hand — his faith and his belief in me brought me out of the darkness," J.P. says. "He never complained, never got angry at me. Only once or twice did I ever see him mad. Sol had a bigger heart than anyone I’ll ever know."Misty’s mother, Linda , also lived with them for a year. She and Sol became close and he even took her for her driving test. "All the other kids had their moms and dads waiting for them — and there’s my son-in-law sitting there waiting for me," she says with a laugh. Linda flunked her first test — ran a red light — but Sol was there again a second time when she passed."Sol was amazing," Linda says. "He was just the best. He wasn’t a son-in-law; he was a son. He took good care of me." For years, Misty and her father, David, didn’t speak to each other. Not long ago, it was Sol who interceded and helped mend the split. "He was largely responsible for bringing my daughter back to me," David  says. Sol’s father, Greg Plante, says his son was actually "a little introspective" growing up in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and didn’t like school. "But he had a gift when it came to people — he was real personable. He always made everyone around him smile," says his father.After leaving Tennessee, Sol and Misty lived in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Peterborough, moved back to Tennessee and finally moved to North Walpole about a year ago. It didn’t make the family long to make an impression. Their new neighbors, Tim and Tamara , said they became instant friends. Tim is pastor of the Hope Chapel on Route 12 in Keene and they shared a similar faith in God. It was Tamara  who drove Misty to Chesshire Medical Center in Keene last Saturday after Sol’s accident. They had to detour around the accident scene coming down Route 12. "She’s an amazing person, a strong person," Tamara says of Misty.Co-worker D.J.  of Troy and Sol became fast friends when Sol went to work as a service technician for Webber Energy Fuels in Keene, which closed the day of the funeral."I found him to be thoughtful, generous and you’d rarely see him in a bad mood — he always had a smile," D.J says. "He was a strong man of faith, one of the best friends you could ever ask for. You know how some people find their soulmate ? Well I found my soul-friend."The love affair between Sol and Misty began by accident over the phone in Tennessee. He was 20; she was 18. He liked the sound of her voice and asked to meet her. But another guy in the distance caught her eye while she waiting for her blind date. "I want to meet that guy instead," she said. Of course, it was Sol.They dated for only 2 months, then married on Aug. 19, 1994, his 21^st birthday."We were all furious," says his stepmother. "They were much too young, and both of them were so unique. But their love just grew and grew. All over their house there are love letters — you can just tell they were in love with each other very, very much." "They grew up together (in their 20's) because those are the years you’re going to grow and become the person you are," adds his brother, Michael. Rev. Stephen R. Neill, a friend of the family, officiated the funeral, which was held at the Sturtevant Chapel on Washington Street in Keene. The hour-long service featured scripture readings, songs and poems. It ended with the playing of "He Touched Me". About a year-and-a-half ago, that song was sung by a member of Sol’s church, and it had an everlasting effect on strengthening his faith.For the family, the unknown lies ahead. Misty is due in six months, and now she is alone with three boys and a girl, all under 10. Hopefully, time and faith will ease the shock of Sol’s death; for now, they will lean on family, friends and each other. Regarding money — a memorial fund will only go so far.

Who was Sol Plante ?

We’ll never get to meet him, but at least we got to know him a little.

(Last names have been edited to protect my family & friends)

How  we met-Answering my girl friends phone on June 4^th,1994 changed my life forever. For that was the day I met my soul mate, the day my life began. Sol was on the other end of that phone when I picked it up. After speaking to him for a few minutes I handed the phone to my girlfriend, who sol begged to fix us up on a blind date. She agreed and dragged me kicking and screaming to Sol’s house, where I fell in love in the parking lot. As we pulled into the parking space outside Sol’s apartment I looked across the parking lot and spotted a gorgeous hunk of a man. Tapping my girl friend on the shoulder screaming like a girl.. “look, look” … “oh now he’s HOT , if Sol looks anything like that I’ll owe you for life” . She turns to look, and with an evil smile on her face says  “ oh him, you like him ,huh” . we get out of the car and start walking towards the building ,as she turns around to me and says “well my dear this is your lucky day, that’s Sol” . she walks me over to him and introduces us to each other. I wanted to melt in his arms. He smelled soooooooo good, and was dressed just like a cowboy (boots and all)  it was all over for me, I fell head over heals in love all in about 5 seconds flat. I knew right then and there I had met my match, my one true love, my soul mate, the father of my future children. And so it was. We dated for a very brief time, and then not being able to
 be apart any longer we married on August 19^th,1994. 
Sol’s 21^st birthday.  And so our love story began, in the years that followed we moved around a bit, as life does to some. During that time we had 5 beautiful children 3 boys, 2 girls.
   Sol was the most remarkable person I have ever known. He was so loving, and caring, compassionate, and a man of God and Family. He had the kind of smile that could melt the cruelest person heart, and made women everywhere fall for him. That’s all it took for me, one look at that smile and I was his forever.

Sol taught me a lot of things over the last 10 1/2 years we were married, but the most important thing he taught me was forgiveness. He showed me how to forgive people who mistreated me in some way. He told me once that a “person who wont forgive is worse than the person who needs forgiveness” and that’s true. He was the most amazing father I have ever seen, his children were the most important thing in his life. He was so loving ,and patient, with the kids. No matter how much time he spent with them he always felt like it wasn’t enough. He would often joke about wining the lottery so he could stay at home with them, and become Mr. Mom. It was very important to Sol that his children knew how much he loved them. 

How we were shattered-My husbands life, my children’s life, my life, my father & mother in-laws life, by family’s 
life was taken from us on January 8^th 2005 at 11:10 a.m. my husband Sol was hit head on by a 20 year old solider driving an army truck for training purposes. It started off like any other Saturday kids and I running around the house, totally excited because daddy was home and it was snowing out. That week had been so busy for all of us. we had just come off Christmas vacation, we were packing up all the Christmas
 decorations, planning a candle party for the 8^th of Jan. I was sick with the flue, sick with morning sickness, and the baby(Alex 7 months old then) was cutting her very first tooth while also ill with the flue her momma shared with her, sol worked a lot of over time that week as well. So needless to say by the time “Junk Food Friday” came we were all totally happy to finally just get some family time together. And thankfully we did just that, after vegging out and watching a movie with the boys we sent them off to bed. Sol and I talked for a long while about a lot of things. Mostly for some strange reason he was showing me the bills , checking, and saving accounts. Which he never did, he always took care of all of that, but for some strange reason (as if God him self had spoken to him) he explained all of it to me, what was due when, and how much, and where to mail it all. Me being me of course just barely paid attention, I was to busy. Trying to get my own “me” time with daddy. Before we headed off to bed he talked to me about having to go out Saturday morning to make the car payment. It was suppose to have been paid on Friday but he didn’t get there in time, he called the man up and told him he would be in early Saturday morning to pay it. I fussed a little about the whole idea, seeing how I felt like it could wait till Monday, and  I just wanted him to stay in with us that day. I woke about 7:30 that morning, and even though I knew he wanted to leave early I didn’t wake him up when I got up .He had worked some over time that week, and I knew he was worn out. (both of us were taking shifts with the baby that week, with her teething and the flue she had) I got dressed pull our bedroom door closed, feed the kids , feed and gave the baby a bath, and Spent some time in the bathroom with morning sickness. I kept looking outside they said we may get some snow, were calling for about 3 inches last we heard. I never worried about him driving in the snow, we’ve done it a thousand times. We live in New Hampshire for crying out loud!, who hasn’t driven in the snow up here. Still no snow though, they said it was to start about this time, but nothing yet. I made him a cup of coffee around 9:30a.m , and took it in. I just stood there for the longest time watching him sleep, he looked so peaceful, I hated to wake him. But I did, I crawled into bed right beside him like I always do. Got under the covers, and put my cold nose right up to his warm cheek, and gave him a kiss. We cuddled in bed for a few minutes, then he got up and fussed at my for letting him sleep in. I told him why I did it, and he just flashed me that charming smile that melted my heart the first time I saw him. ( I miss that smile) I followed him out to the back porch where he went  to smoke, by this time it just started to snow a little.(it was about 10a.m. or so) I talked to him while he was smoking his cig, asked him to just stay home. Not because I was worried about the snow, but because I was just being a wee bit selfish. I wish now it had been the snow I was worried about, I know if it had all I would have had to say to him was. “ I have a bad feeling” and he would have stayed home just to ease my mind. But I wasn’t, and I didn’t. I now know there’s 100 things I could have changed, that would have kept him here with us. well anyhow, he said he needed to make the payment today, and he needed to get some things put on his truck for work, and he wanted to pick up the boys a new board game for all of us to play that day. Even though I wasn’t happy about it I didn’t make a fuss. We went back into the house, the boys where running all around totally excited because daddy was up, and it had just started to snow. Our youngest boy was playing his game boy that he got for Christmas, and he kept asking me to get him throw this level and that level. (and I did) sol got dressed, finished his coffee, and then hugged the boys good bye, kissed baby Alex on the forehead. We hugged and kissed while our youngest boy jumped up and down yelling” momma get me throw this level” , and our two other boys ran around looking for their snow boots, and hats. I took the game boy from our youngest and started to work on the level. Then stopped and yelled out sol’s name as he started to close the door. I ran back for one more kiss, and hug, and told him I loved him. He closed the door, and the opened it again, and flashed me that smile, and a wink. I watched him pull out of the drive way, and then started to work on the game boy again. A while later I’m not sure how long. Sol called me from the cell phone ( I now know we hung up with each other about 5 minutes before the accident happened) he just wanted to talk, and to tell me that a friend from across the road stopped him on his way out to chat. He said that they talked about the fact that we don’t get out much without the kids. Sol told him that’s the way we like it. The man offered for him and his wife to watch the kids for us, so we could go out to eat or something. I told sol I wasn’t very comfortable with that, and he told me it was something we could think about. I agreed, we talked for a few more minutes about crazy drivers, and how people where driving. He told me he was behind a green truck, and that they were both going slow, about 30 miles or so. He was coming up to the “dead zone” (we called it) where he was about to lose cell phone service , so we said our good byes, and our love yous. He told me he would call me when he got back to town to see what I wanted from the store. A few hours passed, I did some house work (cleaned up from “Junk Food Friday”) , and played with the kids, I pulled out the stuff to make my grannies homemade apple cake. Started to peel the apples, and then took the trash out to the back deck. When I came back in I looked at the clock ,and thought it had been a long while since he left. I started to count the hours to see how long he had been gone, I think I came up with something like 3 hours. Thought to myself it’s been a while I should call him see where he is, and let him know apple cake will be hot and ready to serve in one hour. I started to walk over to the phone when it rang, I thought to myself there’s the little devil now. Only when I looked at the top of the phone and it didn’t say sol’s cell, it said Cheshire Medical Center. I thought ohhhh that’s right I missed my appointment , then I realized it was Saturday as I answered the phone, and they wont’ be calling me on a Saturday for an appointment I missed. As I started to answer it I half way thought I would hear sol’s voice on the other end telling me he was ok, and to come pick up him. But what I heard was something I’ll never forget. It was a nurse from the hospital, she said “is this the home of sol plante?” I thought oh no, not now, not him, why. I said “yes this is, what happened?, what’s the matter?”. She asked “is this sol’s wife?” . By this point I started yelling or at least it felt like I was. I said” yes I am what's wrong?”  she told me sol had been in a serious car accident and I need to come right away. Like a total freak I told her. Come how? I’m here all alone with 4 children, can I please talk to sol. She said “Mrs. Plante you need to come right away, then I knew. I knew my husband was dead. I know my husband like the back of my own hand, and if he were alive he would have made sure to tell them I was 3 months pregnant, and not to upset me, to make sure I knew he was ok, but that’s not what she said.. and so I knew. I totally lost it (this was my worst fear, my worst nightmare) I told her this can’t be true this can’t be happening, I need him, I love him, we’re having another baby. (I was 3 months pregnant at the time) she told me not to bring the kids, to have someone watch them, and to get someone to drive me. I hung up, I was like a total crazy person. I ran out on the back deck and called my mother , crying and screaming that sol had been in a accident , she said she was on her way to the hospital. I tried to get a hold of myself, and called my father in-law (who I think of as my dad). I didn’t want to totally freak him out, he lives 3 hours away in Connecticut. I tried so hard to in a very clam voice tell him what happen, and that he needed to come after the storm was over. By this time the 3 inches of snow we were to get turned into 6 inches, and it was still snowing. I ran in my stocking feet to my neighbor Tamara’s house, as I started down the stairs I lost my footing and fell all the way down. Didn’t feel a thing got back up and ran next door were I stared banging on Tamara’s door, Screaming her name, she ran down her stairs and caught me in her arms, I told her what happened. She sent her husband over to watch the kids and we got in her car and drove off in the snow for the hospital. Tamara and I prayed all the way down there, bargaining with god, I would give him anything if he would just make Sol ok. I realize now that I prayed aloud the whole time, asking God for a miracle , telling him I would give anything, my voice, my eyes, my sight, my arms, my legs, my life, anything for Sol to be ok. I needed him more than I needed air to breath. We came up on the crash site, and had to detour around it, the police officer who stopped us asked where we  going, we told him to the hospital as my husband was the one driving the Webber truck.. I’ll never forget the look on his face, it spoke volumes. I knew again that Sol wasn’t ok, I knew he was dead, but stilled I prayed for a miracle, I begged, and bargained. We finally got to the hospital some hour and a half later, and this is where things get real foggy for me I was so upset and things seemed to have moved so fast. I ran in, and someone grabbed me and just held me in their arms saying it was going to be ok. ( I now know it was Paul one of the guys who worked with my husband, he had been there waiting for me)I couldn’t think straight , no one would look me in the eye, all I wanted to do was see my husband. Finally someone came over, I said “ my husband Sol Plante has been in a car accident , again they “looked” at me, and I knew. She asked me to wait, and she would get someone. Two people came out to get me, Paul said he would wait there. I walked threw the first set of doors, and asked where is he? They just “looked” at me, and then said Mrs. Plante we need you to wait here for the doctor, as the walked me to a door that read” the family room” (or something like that). I screamed no, they opened the door, and the first face I say was my mother’s, I could tell she had been crying, and I thought they already told her. They started to lead me in the room, when I started to fight back, someone was trying to pull me in, while I was trying to pull myself out. Finally they convinced me to go in, and I did. I sat down and just let it all go, crying in my mothers arms. Then the door opened and a man walked in till this day I can’t tell you what he said to me, I just keep waiting to hear the word, ok, alive, on life support something. But the only thing I picked up was I’m sorry Mrs. Plante, his heart stopped before he got here, and then I heard.. blah..blah.. my mind just could not compute what he was saying to me, and then I heard the word…… dead……I started to scream and yell I felt as if I was out side my body, apparently they could hear me in the waiting room. I kept telling the doctor they where wrong it wasn’t my husband they had in there, crazy thing to say I know. They asked if I would like to see him, and this is were I made the biggest mistake of my life. I said “yes”. He told me they would “clean” him up and I could go in. you can tell we deff watch to much ER, it’s not like ER trust me. They don’t look normal, or clean at all. They came back in to get us, and there was a bunch of people standing in the hallway. Police, family members, army people, people from sol’s work, they walked us into a room where there were some 4 other beds all separated by curtains. To the left of me was where Sol was, the curtain was closed but I could hear people walking around behind it. There’s was a smell of damp clothes in the air, and snow it smelled like snow in there. My mother was holding one of my arms, my brother the other arm, his soon to be wife was staying by him, and my step father, sister and her husband were all standing with us as well. The doctor asked me if I was ready, I said “yes” he pulled back the curtain. And my brain stopped all I saw was Sol, the table he was on, the blood, the tubes, his boots, and then dark /light/dark. I heard an unbelievable cry/moan and I realized I was starting to go down, the last thing I saw was a young guy to the right of me in a bed sitting up looking at me, and then I was out. I don’t know what happened after that, I woke up in a hospital bed, with a bunch of people asking me questions, I could hear them, I could see them, but I just couldn’t talk back. It’s as if nothing was working, my mind had completely shut down. Finally I was able to get up, and went out for some air. I asked to got back in and see Sol, and they let me. I’m not going to tell you what I saw, but know that what I saw that day I wish I could erase from my mind. It’s something I see 900 times a day, something I will never be able to wipe clean from my brain. It’s like a cancer that grows, it just gets worse, and worse .It’s the first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I see at night, it leaves behind a very real physical pain. One that  hurts so much that at times I think a jack hammer to my head would be less painful. I laid with him for a while, and talked to him, and cried at his broken bones, and cuts, and the cold feel to his skin, he smelled like wet snow. A smell I will never forget, a smell that brings back the whole day to me, rushing in like the tide. A few days later a state trooper came to my house to ask me some questions, I believe it was then that I found out what happen. That someone from the army thought it would be the perfect time to train a young kid to drive a truck “bob catting” in the snow. They lost control hitting the back of the green truck in front of my husband, bouncing off of it, and then hitting my husbands truck head on, pushing him, and it 40 feet off an embankment. There’s been a lot of questions, and even more comments, but still we don’t know what will be. I’d like to end with the birth of our 5^th child. After everything that happen that day, and the days that followed I did give birth to a very healthy child.( with much thanks to God ,and the totally amazing doctors, midwives I had) I named her Grace, after Gods grace, because it’s only been that, and my children that have gotten me through all of this. I would pray every night. “God please give me the strength and Grace to get through this, and to get my babies through this” for the longest time I thought I was having another boy, but when I went for my ultrasound I realized God have given me just what I asked for.. a health baby girl to be born in the name of Grace. That’s the day I decided to call her Grace. And she was born august the 15th 2005, 4 days before her daddy’s birthday. And man alive she looks just like him, she beautiful, and happy, and healthy. Thank God!