Roadside Crosses and Memorial Complexes in Texas

Roadside Crosses and Memorial Complexes in Texas
Author(s): Holly Everett
Source: Folklore, Vol. 111, No. 1 (Apr., 2000), pp. 91-103
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
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Folklore111 (2000):91-118
TOPICS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
As contributionsto this section,the Editorwelcomescommentand debateon topical
issuesor recentarticlesor reviewsappearingin thejournal.Shorter,accessibly-written
items of generalinterest,reportson workin progress,notes and queries,are all also
welcome.
Roadside Crosses and Memorial Complexes in Texas
Holly Everett
In response to a number of recent discussions of death customs, including the
selection and placement of funeral flowers and the erection and maintenance of
roadside shrines (Drury 1994;Walter 1996;Monger 1997; Smith 1999), I would
like to present a brief overview of similar traditions practised in central Texas.
I completed a master's thesis in folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland in August 1998 on roadside crosses erected in memory of automobile
accident victims, primarily those extant in the Austin area. [1] The thesis
encompassed thirty-fivememorial sites, most of which still stand. In addition, a
number of new crosses have gone up in the metropolitanarea since I completed
my fieldwork in the spring of 1998.
Roadside crosses adorn the roadways of many regions of the USA. In the
south-western states, the roadside shrine tradition dates back to the early days
of Spanish exploration and settlement in the Americas (see, for example, De
Le6n 1963, 417; Berlandier 1980, 284; Barrera1991, 278). Syncretism between
Catholic and native belief systems resulted in vigorous and unique shrine
customs from Florida to California (Kozak and Lopez 1991; Griffith 1992;
Edgette 1997; Owens 1997; Zimmerman 1997). Crosses erected along Texas
roadways today reflect varying belief systems and aesthetics, ranging from
traditional Catholic shrines topped by nichos(a small niche in which religious
icons are placed), to crosses inscribed with quotations from popular cinema. [2]
As I have stated, the bulk of my thesis explores the roadside cross memorials
of Texas's capital city, Austin. Whereas roadside crosses in the USA have
historically been, and in many cases continue to be, a rural phenomenon, the
Austin metropolitan area's active roadside cross tradition is distinctly urban.
Shrines are erected on busy street corners adjacentto megastores and fast food
restaurants,in the medians of multilane roadways and freeways, and on private
property.Such memorials incorporateany number of changing elements, including flowers (both fresh and artificial), toys, photographs, ceramic figurines,
handwritten notes, religious objects (saint statuettes and pictures, rosaries),
seasonal decorations such as Christmasornaments or Eastereggs, and car parts
ISSN 0015-587X print; 1469-8315 online/00/010091-28; Routledge Journals; Taylor & Francis Ltd
? 2000 The Folklore Society
92
Topics,Notesand Comments
collected from the wreckage of the inciting accident. Crosses are often, although
not always, the centrepiecesof these memorial assemblages.
Scholarsand other writers often comment upon Austin's unique character,as
a liberal and progressive city in a generally conservative state (see, for example,
Grider 1999). One county official whom I interviewed cited the city's comparatively radical attitudes as a reason for the plethora of roadside memorials, an
expression of grief, affection and creativity to which Austin residents feel they
have a right (Reed 1997). Furthermore,Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT)spokesperson John Hurt asserted that Austin's political status, as state
capital, contributedto a "hands-off"attitude toward the memorials on the part
of city, county and state officials who do not wish to upset or offend their
constituencies (1997).
Texas's cultural heritage is another contributing factor in the character of
Austin area residents' expressive behaviour. For example, the state's religious
composition historically includes a melding of Spanish Catholicism, aboriginal
people's belief systems, and various Protestant denominations, perhaps most
notably Southern Baptist (Ramos 1997, 486). In fact, a breakdown of Texas's
population by religion reveals a marked split between Catholics and Baptists,
manifesting itself in a north-south divide. The Austin metropolitanarea, a part
of Travis County, sits squarely on the figurative ideological border, with
Catholics making up a slight majority (Ramos 1997, 488-9). Thus, Austin area
memorials may be read as a manifestation not only of grief and affection for a
loved one suddenly departed, but also as highly representativeof the region's
cultural syncretism, as my research demonstrates. Contemporarymemorials in
Austin are erectedby people of varying religious affiliations.Indeed, most of my
principal informants were Protestants of various denominations who did not
identify roadside memorialisation as a practice "belonging" to any specific
group.
Some area residents attributethe increasing appearanceof such memorials in
the city, however, to the erection of the first Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD) memorial cross in south Austin in 1984.JenniferSolter, a retirednurse
originally from Manitoba, brought the handcrafted, white wooden cross to
Austin three years after founding the Heart of Texas chapter of MADD in 1981
after her daughter, Sara, died in an alcohol-related auto accident earlier that
year. Sara's cross established the pattern for all MADD crosses in the Austin
area. Crosses erected through the Heart of Texas MADD chapter are white,
two-foot high structuresbearing a red plastic plaque at the crosspiece (Fig. 1).
Each plaque bears the accident victim's name, and dates of birth and death in
the following manner:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF SARA JAYNE SOLTER
BORN 10/20/61 & KILLED AT
THIS LOCATION 8/14/81 BY
A DRUNK DRIVER
The Heart of Texas MADD chapter chose to use the cross as an official symbol,
Jennifer said, because "the cross would call attention to a death." Indeed, in
Texas, roadside crosses are so commonplace, and knowledge of MADD so
widespread, that although not all North American MADD chapters sponsor a
Topics, Notes and Comments
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Figure 1 Erected in 1984 in memory of Sara Solter, this was the first Mothers Against Drunk Driving
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roadside cross memorialisation programme, passers-by often associate all such
roadside memorials with drunk driving incidents.
While MADD crosses are the only legally approved roadside memorials in the
Austin district [3], they are in the minority of the Austin area's roadside shrines.
For example, of the forty-four crosses included in my study, only three were
MADD crosses. Moreover, not all alcohol-related accidents commemorated by
roadside memorials include a MADD cross. Thus, other Austinites point to a
perceived increase in fatal accidents in general as the reason behind the city's
growing number of shrines.
Austin area high schools, in particular, have lost a number of students to
automobile accidents in recent years. One informant told me that James Bowie
High School, in south Austin, constructed a memorial park near the school
because of the high number of deaths the school has suffered (Lamay 1997).
Since 1992, six Bowie students have died from injuries sustained in five separate
accidents. At least three of these students have been remembered with roadside
memorials.
94
Topics,Notesand Comments
The memorial to Bowie students Heather Lamay and Lisa Wendenburg,
erected by classmates on the evening of the young women's fatal accident in
January 1996, originally consisted of two temporary crosses which stood on
private property near the accident site until a cement cross replaced them. The
memorial was constructedwith the permission and cooperation of the property
owners, whose backyard is bordered by the road on which the accident occurred.After erecting the cross, and painting it white, Heatherand Lisa's friends
bordered it with rocks placed in the shape of a heart. Heather's parents, Shilah
and John Lamay, contributed a granite plaque, encasing a photograph of the
women, to the memorial (Lamay1997).Shilah and John later removed the cross
and border, at the request of the TxDOT, to make way for a road-widening
projectplanned for the four-laneroad in south Austin. They attachedthe granite
plaque to a nearby telephone pole. Before the Lamay family moved to another
state in mid-1997, Shilah removed the plaque as well. Responsibility for any
future memorialisationactivity at the accident site was turned over to a family
friend.
Although Shilah and her husband supported the teenagers' memorialisation
efforts, Shilah stated that while the memorial at the accident site was extremely
important to Heather and Lisa's friends, visiting Heather's grave site at the
cemetery was more importantto Shilah and her children (Fig. 2). In fact, Shilah
was doubtful that she and her family would have chosen to erect a memorial at
the accident site themselves, saying:
I don't know that I myself would have necessarily-like, in Oregon and California where
we're from, you never see it. I don't know that we would've thought to do it if we hadn't
lived in Texas, and it's something you see frequently. But I have to say that ... it was kind
of nice just to drive by and see, just, that there was a memory of what had happened there,
you know (Lamay 1997).
In addition, Shilah and her family bought a stock trailer, bearing a memorial
plaque, for the Bowie High School chapter of Future Farmers of America (in
which Heatherhad been very active) with donated memorial funds. She emphasised that both the trailer and the grave site meant more to the Lamay family
than the roadside memorial.
Bowie students suffered the loss of another classmate just over a year later
when the truck in which Heather Werchanwas a passenger crashed into a tree
after the driver, Heather's boyfriend, lost control of the vehicle on a four-lane
divided road which runs in front of the school. The young man built and erected
the cross, along with another of Heather's friends, soon after Heather's death in
an Austin hospital. Heather's father, James, said:
They [the young men] decided to put the cross up and it was, I guess it was probably about
a week after the accident or after the funeral that they put it up. They decided to put it up.
It was very, you know, the thought and having it there is really good. You know, because
it is a reminder for two things, you know. Of Heather, of course, and the other is for people
just to slow down and be more cautious, too, of people that are dying because of traffic
accidents.
The cross is indeed a powerful and eye-catchingreminder that a fatal accident
Topics, Notes and Comments
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Figure 2 Heather Lamay's grave site, adorned with fresh and artificial red roses, a silk sunflower and
a personalised bicycle licence plate.
took place there. At approximately 4.5 ft x 4.5 ft, the cross is the largest I have
documented within city limits (Fig. 3).
"Heather" is spelled out in large, pine green letters which hang across the
horizontal piece. When I photographed the cross in December 1997, strands of
silk sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, orange marigolds, autumn-coloured leaves
and other greenery were intertwined about both pieces of the structure. A
stuffed teddy bear, with a plastic-covered photograph of a young woman
attached to its right foot with purple ribbon, sat on the horizontal near the
transverse and a ring of purple silk miniature roses. Higher up and around the
vertical, a visitor had placed a Bowie graduation tassel (in school colours of red
and black). Sitting atop the vertical were five pennies. Green wooden letters also
indicated Heather's middle and last initials on the bottom half of the vertical.
Although the cross still stands just east of Bowie High School, it is regularly
repainted and redecorated by the young man and his mother, who also care for
a miniature rose bush they planted nearby. Heather's father and mother routinely change the flowers at the base of the cross, and mow the grass around
Topics, Notes and Comments
96
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Figure 3 The memorial assemblage constructed for Heather Werchan, which includes the rose bush
to the left of the large cross.
the memorial. James, said, "And I mow the grass, you know, on the other side
of the tree and a pretty good ways back away from the cross toward Bowie. So
I keep it looking nice and maintain it." The fact that James mows the median is
extraordinaryin that this kind of maintenance would generally be undertaken
by city or county road crews. The Werchanshave never been asked by any city
official to move, or otherwise alter the memorial.
As with the Lamay family, however, the Werchansview Heather's burial site
as the primary locus of memorialisation.Heather is buried in a non-denominational, historic cemetery on the outskirts of the city. The older section, its worn
stone and granite markers dating back to the 1870s, is readily distinguishable
from the newer, larger section with the flat, inset stones more typical of modern
"memorialparks."The cemetery grounds border pastureland,and visitors share
the pastoral settings with horses, Texas longhorns and occasionally, wild deer.
The Werchans felt the site to be particularlyappropriatebecause of Heather's
love of the outdoors.
Jamesnoted that, although the regulationsfor the new section of the cemetery
are similar to those in force at the cemetery where Heather Lamay is buried, the
Werchans, and other visitors, generally disregard them. He said:
Yeah, that's part of the new section that you're not supposed to have that, also, out there. But
we do it anyway. And we're not the only ones. We've got the vase, of course, that's in the
headstone. You know other people have left, my sister left a cat laying down, one of these
concrete-cast cats. And we've got an angel that's standing up, it's made out of concrete, and
so we, you know, people leave vases with flowers in it and things like that and animals. You
know, we maintain it good ourselves, you know, we take care of it, we don't let it grow up.
So, we feel that, I mean it's--even though the rules and requirements say that you're not
supposed to, our feeling, and most of the other people's feelings too, it's that as long as it's
kept nice that, you know, hey, you know, it's our loved one here.
97
Topics, Notes and Comments
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Figure 4 Poinsettias, angel figurines and carnation bouquets surround Heather Werchan's granite
headstone.
When I visited Heather's grave site in December 1997, the headstone was
flanked by potted poinsettias, fresh carnations,a Christmaswreath and several
angel figurines (Fig. 4). Indeed, regardless of any stated policy, the markers in
this section were adorned with tributes and remembrancesof all kinds, including framed photographs, key chains, coins, stuffed animals and miniature flags.
Many of the trees bore holiday decorations and wind chimes.
Thus, as demonstratedby the memorial complexes maintainedby SaraSolter,
Heather Lamay and Heather Werchan'sfamilies, relatives and friends of automobile accident victims in Austin may extend traditionalmemorialisationpractices, such as holding a funeral, marking the burial site with a headstone and
other remembrances and visiting the cemetery on certain anniversaries, to
include the construction and maintenance of a memorial at the place of fatal
injuryor death. While Sara'smother erected a roadside cross as a direct,political
statementsupported by the efforts of an internationalorganisation(MADD),the
Lamays and the Werchansassumed a great deal of responsibility for memorials
originally constructed by others, a pattern that runs through several of my
informants'experiences.
As posited by George Monger, many Austin residents-including both those
directly connected to a roadside cross and unrelated passers-by-view such
memorials as powerful warnings about the danger of automobile travel in
general, and about treacherousintersections,curves or other road conditions in
98
Topics,Notesand Comments
particular.Shilah Lamay,JenniferSolter and JamesWerchanall stated that if the
memorials to their children result in just one person driving more cautiously,
they are certainly worth the effort to construct and maintain them. As Monger
also notes, however, the primaryfunction of many roadside memorialsis simply
to "visit and mark the site of a tragedy" (Monger 1997, 114).Moreover,for some
of those whom I interviewed, the accident site was the last place where their
loved one was conscious, and thus really "alive," regardless of the place of
clinical death.
Susan Crane's son Nathan was fatally injured in 1991 when the car in which
he was a passenger veered off a road in north central Austin and struck a tree.
The driver of the vehicle, Tammy Franklin, and another passenger, Jeffrey
Suggs, were also killed. Although Nathan actually died in the hospital a few
days after the accident, Susan feels drawn to memorialise him at the accident
site, more so than anywhere else, because that is where she believes his spirit
was last on earth.Tammy died on impact when her car struckthe tree. Thus, her
mother, Margie, views the accident site as the place where "everything ended
and began," and concentratesher decorationof the site on the tree, which is still
scarred from the crash. Susan and Margie took responsibility for a memorial at
the accidentsite initiatedby the teenagers'classmates at Hyde ParkBaptistHigh
School, and have redecorated the site together in the past.
The small wooden crosses which the teens constructedand erected in memory
of all three accident victims were twice pulled up, the other remembrances
indiscriminately scattered nearby, by unknown parties. After the second instance, Susan and her partner, an ironworker, set a wrought iron cross in a
cement base at the site. The cross is furthersecured by iron hooks which extend,
from its base, through the cement block. Susan repaints the cross from time to
time.
Susan arrangesher visits seasonally. When I spoke with her in January1998,
she was preparing to replace all the flowers with some winter blooms, after
which she would replace those with an arrangementfor Valentine'sDay. In the
event that Susan plans to be out of town at the time that the flowers need to be
changed, she makes arrangementsfor someone to take new flowers to the site
for her. Every time she changes the flowers at the site, she also changes them at
Nathan's grave site. [4] Although Margie was very reluctantto visit the accident
site at first, she now goes there, usually with her husband, at certain times each
year--on the anniversaryof the accident, Tammy's birthday, EasterSunday and
ChristmasDay. While she visits the cemetery more often, she emphasised that
the roadside cross is extremely importantto her, and that she and Susan "would
do everything they could" to keep some kind of memorial at the accident site,
as they "would always want a reminder to people to be careful" and it has
become an integral part of preserving Tammy's memory. [5]
The experiences of my informants, as detailed here, point to a strong connection between activity at a death-site memorial and at the site of interment.
Indeed, in other cases in which I did not make contact with anyone directly
involved with the construction or maintenance, a correlation between the two
sites was readily apparent. For example, Carmen Cortinas Vela's death is
commemorated by a white cross which flanks the interstate highway on which
she died in a head-on collision in May 1997. In December of that year, the cross
Topics, Notes and Comments
99
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Figure 5 Holiday decorations at Carmen Cortinas Vela's memorial cross.
was decorated with a large red ribbon, a garland and several smaller sprays of
artificial poinsettias, sprigs of holly and a bouquet of artificial marigolds (Fig. 5).
Potted poinsettias, sprigs of holly and marigolds were also among the remembrances at Vela's grave site in one of Austin's largest Catholic cemeteries, as well
as several sea shells, two angel figurines, an unopened can of beer, a large plastic
candy cane accompanied by two giant, cellophane-wrapped lollipops, a small,
hand-painted ceramic cross, and greeting cards (Fig. 6).
Of course, cemetery regulations must be taken into account when comparing
memorialisation activity. Generally speaking, Austin's older cemeteries, such as
that in which Vela is buried, do not enforce the strict decoration policies in place
at newer memorial parks. Evidence of greater activity at a roadside cross may
be a result of restrictive cemetery policy. Vicki Biggs concentrates a large portion
of memorial activity for her daughter, Tara, at the cross erected at the accident
site by classmates and friends. She said:
We really do more at the cross than we do at the cemetery. Yes, we put flowers and
everything, but at the cemetery you're not allowed-now, at special occasions, like Christmas
or whatever, for a couple of days they'll let you. But it's a flat headstone. And then they've
got the built-in flower things. So, you're not supposed to, if it doesn't go into the flower
thing, you're not really supposed to put anything down. And, in fact, I didn't know that at
Topics, Notes and Comments
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Figure 6 Sea shells, a ceramic cross in protective wrapping and an angel figurine carefully placed at
Carmen Cortinas Vela's grave site.
first, and I had, she [Tara] collected snow domes. And so I put one of her favourite snow
domes out there and some Lion King figurines. And about a week later I went back out there
and they were gone, somebody had taken them. But up at the cross I've got a snow dome
up there, there's like three, one big, ceramic angel, two smaller ones, and there's Lion King
figurines, and there's, you know, and no one's ever touched them.
Although Vicki regularly visits Tara's grave, she has a much freer hand to
decorate the cross as she wishes, as do Tara's friends.
The cross was constructedby a family friend and painted at the accident site,
the morning after Tara's death, by several of Tara's classmates and teachers,
each one taking a turn with brush and paint. Vicki had happened to drive by just
as they were painting, and told me:
When I saw them doing that, I just started crying, going, "Gosh," you know? I mean, at that
time, of course we weren't in the frame of mind-I wouldn't even have thought about it at that
moment. So, they did and it made me real happy. I was real happy that they had done that.
101
Topics, Notes and Comments
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Figure 7 Stuffed animals encircle Jacorey Williams's memorial cross.
Although the appearance of the cross was a surprise, it was a felicitous one.
The roadside cross and Tara's grave site are only two of the sites involved in
Tara's memorial complex, which has included an impromptu memorial of notes,
letters, poems and photographs left at Tara's locker at Lake Travis High School;
a memorial bench, erected on school grounds, to which a remembrance of some
kind-a plaque, an angel figurine-is added each year on the anniversary of the
accident; numerous scrapbooks; and a web site created by a family friend. Thus,
Tara's family and friends have numerous outlets for expressions of grief and
affection.
In addition, such memorials provide a place of mourning and contemplation
for those who may have witnessed a fatal accident, but did not know the
deceased (see also Monger 1997, 114) and are therefore unlikely to attend the
funeral or visit the victim's grave site. A large number of Crockett High School
students witnessed a fatal accident on 16 October 1996' when eight year-old
Jacorey Williams was struck and killed by a car when crossing a nearby street.
When I administered a questionnaire to several English literature classes at the
school in the spring of 1997, many of the students wrote about the accident, and
the small white cross that commemorates it (Fig. 7).
Erected in the median near the accident scene, the cross is often attended by
toys, fresh flowers and plants. When I photographed the memorial in 1997, a
small picture of Jacorey was taped to the cross's east face, above football cards
and handwritten notes covered with plastic wrap, and a rosary, also affixed with
tape. Students who witnessed the accident wrote about leaving flowers and toys
at the cross, or simply thinking of him each time they passed the memorial.
Whether as a primary or secondary site of commemoration, it is important to
recognise roadside memorials as integral to memorial complexes which serve
grieving individuals' needs in a variety of ways that often change over time
(Edgette 1997; Zimmerman 1997). Immediately following a fatal accident, friends
102
Topics,Notesand Comments
and relatives, as well as witnesses, may focus their activities on the accident site.
After a few years, when activity at the roadside appears to decrease or stop
altogether, the greater part of memorialisationactivity may have moved to the
cemetery or the home. Thus, while documenting and analysing roadside memorialisation practices affords valuable insight into the intersection of belief and
custom, it is vital that the researcher consider such memorials as part of a
dynamic memory network influenced by such diverse factors as participants'
relationship to the deceased, religious affiliation, city ordinances and cultural
influences.
Notes
[1] The full title of the thesis is "Crossroads: Roadside Accident Memorials In and Around Austin,
Texas."
[2] The cross to which I refer here, next to a busy, four-lane road, bears a plaque which reads:
IN MEMORY OF
DAVID M. CROWLEY
JANUARY 16, 1965--OCTOBER 16, 1995
"You always have been, and forever will be, my friend."
The quotation is from the 1982 motion picture Star-TrekII-The Wrathof Khan.They are Spock's
dying words to Kirk.
[3] The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which regulates highway construction and
maintenance, including the maintenance of all rights-of-way, divides the state into fifteen
administrative districts. Austin is in the "Austin district." The administration of each district
decides it own policy regarding roadside memorials such as those discussed here. Thus, while
the Austin district allows individuals to erect memorials through MADD, any type of roadside
memorial is prohibited in the Dallas district (Hurt 1997). Moreover, even MADD memorials in
the Austin district (which are not limited to crosses, but may also take the form of a Star of
David, for example) are subject to size, construction and placement restrictions. However, like
the Roads and Traffic Authority in Australia, as previously reported by Robert James Smith
(1999, 105), officials in the Austin district avoid dismantling or moving any memorials, MADD
or otherwise, unless they are in the path of road work, or deemed to be dangerous obstructions
and/or distractions.
[4] Tammy and Nathan are buried near each other in a large, non-denominational cemetery.
[5] Both Margie and Susan state, however, that Jeffrey Suggs's family has never been involved in
maintenance or decoration of the memorial.
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Lamay, Shilah. Interview by author. Tape recording. Austin, TX, 21 May 1997.
Monger, George. "Modem Wayside Shrines." Folklore108 (1997):113-14.
Ohlendorf, Tom. Interview by author. Austin, TX, 2 May 1997.
Owen, Maida. E-mail to author, 4 August 1997.
Ramos, Mary G., ed. 1998-1999 Texas Almanac. Dallas, TX: Dallas Morning News, 1997.
Reed, Raymond. Interview by author. Tape recording. Austin, TX, 18 June 1997.
Smith, Robert James. "Roadside Memorials-Some Australian Examples." Folklore 110 (1999):
103-5.
Solter, Jennifer. Interview by author. Tape recording. Austin, TX, 2 June 1997.
Walter, Tony. "Funeral Flowers: A Response to Drury." Folklore107 (1996):106-7.
Werchan, James. Interview by author. Tape recording. Austin, TX, 4 March 1998.
Zimmerman, Thomas. "Sites of Public Death: Roadside Memorials in South Central Kentucky."
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Austin, TX, 1997.
Biographical Note
Holly Everett is a doctoral student in folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Her
current researchinterests include music, belief, material culture and the history of folklore.
Paganism and Polemic: The Debate over the Origins of
Modem Pagan Witchcraft
Ronald Hutton
The Opening of the Debate
In 1998, the first issue of the newly renamed journal of the Canadian Folklore
Association, Ethnologies, included an article by Donald H. Frew, a Californian
terming himself an "independent scholar writer." It represented a historiographical landmark, being only the second contribution to one of the key scholarly
debates in the history of contemporary religions, that concerning the origin of
Wicca, the first of the various traditions of modem pagan witchcraft to emerge