Richard

Another heartbreaker for me, the memorial for Richard Enquist on highway 97 South of La Pine, Oregon. Richard lost control of his Audi in May of 2021, rolled it, and died on the spot.

There are two desconsos at the location but both appear to be for Richard. Both are decorated heavily with children’s toys … and then I saw this:

I have photographed lots of memorials of moms in my work, but when the desconso is for a dad it hits me harder. No doubt because I begin to imagine what it would be like for my kids if I ended up like poor Richard.

I assume they would miss me as much as his child(ren) clearly miss him.

Another faded teddy bear at this site, quite possibly the same bear but in decidedly better shape. It’s painful to me to think about Richard’s young son or daughter leaving their favorite bear on the side of the road so that daddy could be near it.