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Vol. 15, No. 48, Wednesday, October 28, 2020 www.LamontLeader.com
Two sides at odds over roadside memorial to son BY JANA SEMENIUK A roadside memorial, erected in Lamont County five years ago, has brought two families at odds with each other over where it should be placed and if it should be there at all. Edmonton mom Marianne Armstrong and her husband had a hand-made wooden cross erected at the intersection of highway 831 and township road 550 where they lost their son to a vehicle accident in the early morning hours of June 19, 2015. Braeden Bumphrey, 20, was killed when the vehicle he was driving, along with three of his friends, skidded out of control while travelling east on township road 550 on their way to Elk Island Park. Bumphrey was the only fatality. “It just ripped our hearts out. Braeden was so fun loving and spirited and such a unique individual. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” said Armstrong. Armstrong and her husband were looking for a way to honour their only son who lost his life at the spot where the accident occurred. “We decided on the cross about a month after (Braeden passed away). It was my husband’s idea, just something we felt compelled to do at the time. We didn’t want anything flimsy, so we made a really nice cross out of two big posts, sanded them, stained them and engraved his name in it. It’s about four feet tall. We put it right where Braeden’s car had impacted in the ditch. The spot where my beautiful boy left this earth,” she said. “I also wrote on the back of it that if there were any problems with it to please contact me and I included my phone number. I was never contacted.” After five years, Armstrong’s roadside memorial cross was removed sometime in September without her knowledge. “My daughter called me to say she didn’t see the cross and it was missing,” she said. Upon hearing news of the missing cross, Armstrong’s thoughts went
immediately to an anonymous handwritten note that was left on the memorial in September. “The note said the person was annoyed and the cross had been there long enough,” she said. “Before this we have never had anyone give us any pushback over having this Braeden Bumphrey, 20, was memorial there. In killed in June 2015 in a vehicle fact, in year two, accident near Elk Island Park.
someone else was coming to maintain the area around the cross and we don’t know who.” Armstrong added that she did not keep the note. “I know, law wise, if the county wanted it down, they technically could. I don’t have any rights to this, I know that,” she said. “It (the cross) might seem like an annoy-
A roadside memorial, honouring 20 year old Braeden Bumphrey, was the subject of controversy when it was removed and destroyed by an adjacent landowner who no longer wanted it near their property. Photo: Marianne Armstrong
ance to some people but it was beyond meaningful to us.” Last week, Armstrong received a surprising FB message from a woman who claimed responsibility for removing, and destroying the cross. The Lamont Leader reached out to speak with her for this story. She asked to remain anonymous. “Provincial Transportation rules allow for her to have this memorial there for up to six months. It’s been five years,” said the woman. “I have to look at this every day when I drive to my property. A more appropriate place would be near her home or in a cemetery.” The woman indicated that in addition to the visibility of the cross from her property, she was also bothered by the constant littering at the site. “I was tired of seeing the empty beer cans, empty mickey bottles, empty pop cans and cigarette packages left all over where the cross was,” she said. The woman added a very personal reason for being offended by the sight of the cross. “I am indigenous. I have relatives who were victims of residential schooling and other relatives who are of the missing and murdered indigenous people,” she said. “I don’t want to be reminded of this by seeing the cross everyday. It makes me feel the way seeing a swastika would make you feel if someone put it at the end of your driveway.” The woman indicated she did not see Armstrong’s phone number anywhere on the cross to contact her. While the two women have discussed the problem, a solution does not seem imminent. Armstrong has offered a smaller cross or marker while the woman has rejected the idea. “I understand and offer condolences, but when do you say enough is enough?” said the woman. Armstrong also made her position very clear with a recent social media post. Continued on Page 2