PHOENIX — The children of George Meletis remember him as a funny, loving and dedicated father.
“He always did his best, no matter what,” said his son, Athanasios Meletis.
Meletis and his sister Rebecca Ziesmer said their family moved to Mesa when they were little and grew up in the Valley. As far back as they can remember, both said their dad did whatever he could to provide for them.
"His main goal was to make sure that we didn't worry," Meletis said.
That even meant working incredibly long hours. Even at the end of the day, Ziesmer said her dad would still make time to spend with them.
"He would cook for us, if we wanted he'd play with us — whatever we wanted to do," she said. "We felt loved and taken care of."
Of course, they wanted to spend as much time with their dad as possible. Growing up they wished he would be home more but both said now that they are parents themselves, they understand why their dad worked as hard as he did.
"Now that I got a little bit older, the biggest thing that I can say to him is, I get it," Meletis said. "The time you did have wasn't a lot sometimes, but now that I have kids of my own, I retired out of the military recently, so long hours, stuff like that, I get it."
It's a message they wish they could share with their dad but have lost the opportunity to.
On Monday morning, George was killed after Phoenix Police said he was run over by a shuttle bus at a transport depot near 79th Avenue and Van Buren Street. Officials said he died at the scene from his injuries.
His family said he worked at the depot as a safety trainer.
"I was shocked," Ziesmer said. "It's not news that you expect to hear randomly on a phone."
Both kids live out of state and as soon as they learned what happened, they immediately drove several hours to Phoenix.
Police said two people were on the shuttle bus when it happened. Officers were told the driver took his foot off the brake and for "unknown reasons" the bus accelerated forward. On Tuesday police said this case is still under investigation and no arrests have been made.
"I don't want to make any assumptions or throw any ill will to anyone I just hope anyone involved in this situation, whether they were injured or was a coworker or a manager or their boss, can just get past this and figure out what happened so it doesn't happen again," Meletis said.
The family is being there for each other during this unimaginable time like their dad was there for them throughout his life.
"Me, my sister and my two little sisters, we got a lot going on, and the only thing I cared about right now is making sure that they were okay," Meletis said. "We made this drive together, and we're gonna do it together."
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