NEWS

Lasting impression

Amanda Milkovits
amilkovi@providencejournal.com
Valdano Almeida, 26, of East Providence, with Cumberland Farms employee Kurt Hofmann, 80. Almeida was killed on Monday, struck by a truck as he walked along Forbes Street.

EAST PROVIDENCE — The automatic doors at the 24-hour Cumberland Farms swish open repeatedly, with customers rushing in and out. The store at the corner of Pawtucket Avenue and Wampanoag Trail could be just a place for people on their way to somewhere else.

But Valdano Almeida, in his store uniform shirt and name badge, had a way of letting people know that they mattered, his friends and co-workers said.

"He made a very big impression," said store manager Eric Graham. "A lot of people get to live a lifetime, and they don't really make an impression.

“Live your life keeping in mind how people are going to remember you,” he added.

Almeida’s death on Monday at age 26 has left his former coworkers and customers grieving.

It was customers who alerted store employees to the crash that afternoon on Forbes Street. They were sure Almeida was the victim. “It’s East Providence. We’re so small,” explained Vanessa Lopes, Almeida’s friend and coworker.

Then, police confirmed what witnesses saw. Almeida was walking in the sloppy winter weather when a pickup crossed into the opposite lane and struck him. Almeida was barely conscious when rescuers arrived, and he died that night at Rhode Island Hospital.

The driver, 35-year-old Arnold Butler, has been charged with driving under the influence, death resulting, after a police officer at the scene determined Butler was under the influence of drugs. Police obtained a search warrant for the results of a chemical test of Butler’s blood; the crash remains under investigation.

As it happens in a big small town, Butler was also a customer at the Cumberland Farms store.

Almeida started working for Graham at the Cumberland Farms store in Seekonk, Massachusetts, just over the line, in 2017 and then followed him to this store in Riverside. He was beloved at both stores, known for being hardworking and friendly with customers, Graham said.

Since Almeida’s death, "a lot of our customers are coming in and asking how we're holding up,” he said.

Under the fluorescent store lights Thursday, Lopes wiped away tears as she spoke about Almeida. He was hardworking and friendly, and he noticed when people needed help, she said.

She recalled how Almeida had bought her milk and diapers for her toddler son, to help her out. “I remember his smile, and his big heart,” she said.

When Evan Olmo was hired, Almeida noticed his last name and realized he’d gone to high school with the 19-year-old’s older brother. “He told me I was a good worker,” Olmo said, and despite their age differences, they became close friends.

Almeida used to walk the three miles from his house to the store, so Olmo started giving him rides.

A few months ago, Almeida left Cumberland Farms for another job. “He was a genuinely nice guy,” Graham said. “I was sorry to see him go.”

They all stayed in touch. The last time Olmo saw him, Almeida was talking about getting his taxes done. He was going to have his phone turned on and get his sister’s car, which meant he wouldn’t have to walk everywhere.

That was why he was walking on Monday, his usual day to visit his mother. “He doesn’t have a car and his phone wasn’t turned on, so he couldn’t call someone for a ride,” Olmo said.

As they talked about their memories of Almeida, his friends spoke as if he was about to walk back in through the store's sliding doors. "It hasn't hit me yet," Olmo admitted.

Together, they’re collecting money to give to his family, a contribution from the team at Cumberland Farms No. 1227.