EVERETT — Dee Lawrence can’t bring herself to visit the spot along U.S. 101 where her son was killed.
"It’s just too hard," the Everett woman said in a shaky voice.
Thursday, she found a different place to remember and honor her son, Jeffrey Todd Felix.
Felix, 26, was killed two years ago while traveling home from the Oregon coast.
Felix’s name, along with seven others, was added to a memorial wall dedicated to men and women killed in alcohol or drug-related crashes.
"This is something I can see and touch," Lawrence said. "In a way, he’s here."
Parents, siblings, friends and children gathered Thursday afternoon beneath the sweeping cedar trees in a quiet corner at McCollum Park to honor the memory of their loved ones.
They read poems and sang songs through tears. They hugged each other and tenderly ran their fingers along the names of those who had died.
It was a day to remember who they had lost and why.
The 6-foot red brick wall was unveiled in 2001 for families to have a safe and peaceful place to pay tribute, unlike some roadside memorials.
The wall is the first of its kind in the state and possibly the nation, according to Tracy McMillan, the Snohomish County DUI Task Force coordinator.
Since the unveiling, 86 names have been added to the memorial.
"We wish we’d come to one of these events and no person’s name would have to be placed on this wall," said Conrad Thompson, co-chairman of the task force.
Along with giving families and friends a place to honor their loved ones, the wall also is meant to be a reminder of the devastating consequences of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, McMillan said.
"It’s really important to us that people know drinking and driving is not acceptable," said Jodee Nansel, whose younger brother Aaron Harvey, 18, was killed three years ago in Monroe while riding with a drunken driver.
Lynn Ellis said the wall acknowledges that her best friend, James Cole Jr., who was killed last year, is not and never will be forgotten.
"It also acknowledges that drinking and driving is a hideous, hideous thing, especially when it takes a loved one away," Ellis said.
Ellis said a senseless act forced her to go through three milestones in her life without her friend at her side.
"I had to turn 40 without him. I went up a mountain without him. And I had to graduate without him," the Everett woman said.
Lillian Peterson said her family will be forever changed because of a man who chose to get behind the wheel drunk.
Her son Kenneth Roodzant, 46, was killed on Christmas Eve 2000 when an intoxicated driver slammed into his truck.
It was the first Christmas that all her children weren’t together in their mom’s home to celebrate.
"It will never be Christmas again at our house," Peterson said.
Reporter Diana Hefley:
425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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