Long time no post.

Found this one over the summer in front of a Phillips 66 Gas Station on Elm Street.

No name, no date, nothing... just a small tribute to someone who died at this street corner. A descansolito, if you will.

J.P. Rosciglione

You can see the white cross better in this Google Earth image. Sorry for my terrible photo!

This was one of the first memorials I noticed on my morning commute to St. Charles on I-370W. It took me a while before I was able to make out the name on the memorial, and finally I thought to snap a quick pic whilst driving by since the idea of pulling over on the side of 370 gives me the heeby jeebies!! The memorial itself is a simple white cross with his name on the horizontal portion and the word "Colts" written on the top part with their horseshoe logo. Apparently the victim was a fan of Indianapolis Colts football.

This memorial is for John "J.P." Rosciglione. He was struck by a drunk driver while on his way home from work on February 5th, 2005, westbound on 370 near the Mills Mall exit. He was headed to a friends house to play cards when another driver struck the back of his Nissan Pathfinder, causing J.P.'s car to roll over and impact the median. Poor J.P. was ejected from the car and landed on the other side of the highway where he was hit by a minivan and a tractor trailer heading eastbound. I pray that he died quickly and with minimal pain...

Photo source: www.bpusastl.org/images/Newsletters/Webcopies/BPStL_J-F_06.pdf

I see his memorial every single day on my way to work now. I began to wonder who he was and what sort of person he was like.... so I read some news stories online. In one such article, he was described as having a "big heart" by his family. His father, Jay Rosciglione said, "J.P. was the son every father dreams of having. His sister said he was "the life of the party." How tragic that he had to perish like this...reminds me of the importance wearing a seat belt. Seems like most of the victims who are ejected from a vehicle are without seat belts. Of course airbags play a significant role in saving lives but perhaps due to the nature of J.P.'s accident, even the airbags couldn't save him. Seemed like it was an older vehicle and once airbags deploy, they cannot be redeployed as far as I know...Oh well, this is just speculation on my part, and not the purpose of my blog. But I definitely think of him everytime I drive past....

J.P.'s 1998 Nissan Pathfinder post-accident:

Truly terrible! And unfortunately the man responsible for this only got two years in prison after he fled the scene of the accident. If it weren't for witness testimony, the drunk driver might have gotten away with this!

New Story

An older one, so whole article isn't available but here's the gist of it:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-9304367/Driver-in-fatal-crash-gets.html

J.P. is survived by his mother, father, sister, and other numerous family members. His family owns a bakery in St. Charles called Rosciglione Bakery and his father, Jay Rosciglione, was a power weight lifter. I am sure his family holds him in their hearts and treasures their memories of him dearly.

Rest in peace, J.P.

Unknown Victim

This descanso was discovered today! I'd never noticed it before. It's right near the 370 on/off ramps in New Town/Elm Street.

It is a very old looking one...the letters and such are falling off, and I can't really discern a date or anything.

I think it used to read "Moore" but I am not entirely positive. (??) Any help identifying is appreciated! I am sure there is a story to be told....

The location of this cross makes it hard to stop to get a closer look--it would be too dangerous because of all of the on/off ramp traffic, so I had to snap a quick photo as I was driving by.

Makeshift memorial.

A wooden cross can be seen in front of the MotoMart gas station at the intersection of New Town Road and Fountain Lakes Blvd. (Area where I am working this summer, which is how I encountered this memorial.) Initially I just asked the clerk about what happened and he said the fellow who died was leaving the sport bar across the street, ran a red light, and collided with an oncoming vehicle. The passengers in the vehicle that struck Billyjack's were wearing their seatbelts (a father and young son??) and both survived, sustaining injuries. Billyjack died on the scene.

The caption on the t-shirt attached to the cross reads: "We will never forget your contagious smile."

He had a 5 year old son, Carter, pictured above. Billyjack is on the right.

This, like many accidents, was unnecessary! I am not sure if alcohol played any role in the accident, as I cannot find an official news story on it... but here are some more links if you are interested:

http://hosting-tributes-24674.tributes.com/show/Billyjack-Dorlaque-89390295

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1u54js8HY

http://www.amymeyerottphotography.com/2010/09/warning-this-is-not-happy-post.html