Dressed in jeans and leather chaps, bikers from around the state paid their respects to a man that many said is gone too soon.

"I have a hard time coming to grip with it yet," friend and ex-ABATE State of Georgia Director, Jim George said,

"It's tragic, I feel horrible, me and my wife have known him for a longtime," friend Frank “Spanky” Selvy said.

"As soon as I heard it was devastating to us because we've known for a long time,” friend Celeste Stevens said. “It was somebody I knew I could trust my kids with.”

More than 200 people filled the Macon City Auditorium on Sunday to say goodbye to 62-year-old Delmar Singleton. Singleton was a Vietnam Veteran and the District 7 Coordinator for American Bikers Active Towards Education (ABATE). The nationwide organization aimed to protect and educate people on bikers rights. Many people said how Singleton died was what he tried to prevent for all bikers.

"You work your whole life for bikers’ rights and that's how you end up by somebody in a car not paying attention to what they're doing," Selvy said.

Singleton died after 80-year-old James Edwards plowed his van into the back of Singleton’s bike while he was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Hwy 247 and Davis Drive. Edwards hit Singleton so hard that the motorcycle was embedded into the front of the van

Besides Singleton’s work with ABATE, friends said they'll remember his big heart.

"He never ever didn't show up and come when you need him,” Stevens said.

"He would give you the shirt off his back, if he knew you needed it, he would give it to you,” friend for more than 30 years, Melody Johnson said. “He was always there for you."

"The way he cared for people, he'd make you smile and you couldn't be mean and be around him," George said.

Friends said dealing with his untimely death is hard and that the new coordinator of district 7 will have some big shoes to fill.

"It'll be hard but someone out of these people, us bikers that gather and rally together will pick up the mantle and carry it,” Johnson said.