Jeffrey Topping’s piercing blue eyes would come to life when he was riding anything loud and fast — especially a roller coaster or a Harley-Davidson.

“The louder the better, and the faster the better,” said his father, James Topping, of Jeff’s motorcycle preferences.

But when Jeff died unexpectedly on June 20, 2010, his eyes became a new source of life when his corneas were transplanted and allowed two people with poor vision to see again.

To honor Jeff’s and his family’s selfless act of organ donation, Jeff will be depicted in a floragraph on the Donate Life float in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 2.

Topping was born in Newport News and spend his summers at Busch Gardens with his family, riding the roller coasters. Soon after he graduated high school, he began working for the Dignity Memorial network of funeral and cemetery providers, starting at Hampton Memorial Gardens in Hampton and eventually coming to work at Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens in Suffolk.

In 2004, he went to work for the nuclear department at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard and soon began taking classes at Thomas Nelson Community College. He graduated in 2009 and received the Hastings Award for engineering, and began continuing his engineering education at Old Dominion University.

All the while, he was tutoring fellow students and co-workers. His passion for Harley-Davidson motorcycles began in 2006.

“He was one of the most passionate Harley-Davidson enthusiasts I’ve ever known,” his brother Tim Topping said.

According to his father, Jeff was a free spirit who enjoyed classical music and attending the symphony. He once decided to ride his motorcycle all the way to the Grand Canyon, but had to turn around in New Mexico when a storm swept its way across the country.

“How he did it, I’ll never know,” said Adrienne Topping, Jeff’s stepmother. “He was burning the candle at both ends.”

But when Jeff’s candle was snuffed out suddenly a year and a half ago, his family made the decision to keep it burning for somebody else.

“We got a call from LifeNet asking us if we would donate some organs,” Adrienne Topping said.

The family agreed to donate his corneas and heart valves. They later received word that two transplants of his corneas had been successful.

“It makes me feel real good,” she said. “It’s doing someone for someone else; it’s selflessness.”

Jeff Topping will be honored in the parade with a floragraph — a depiction of his face made entirely of edible materials, such as spices and seeds — atop the float along with 71 other memorial portraits of deceased organ and tissue donors. In addition, there will be 28 riders on the “One More Day” float who are family members of deceased donors, as well as living donors and transplant recipients.

The family recently helped complete the floragraph by adding paprika to form the eyebrows. They then shipped it back to Pasadena, Calif. to be affixed to the float. Adrienne Topping will be in attendance at the parade.

Most of the family members have always been organ donors, but Adrienne Topping had never relished the idea. But now, she says, she is signed up.

“I understand the need now,” she said.

For more information on the Donate Life float, visit www.donatelifefloat.org. For more information on organ, eye and tissue donation in Virginia, visit www.save7lives.com.