For four years, Selena Drincic has tended a roadside memorial she set up on Bles Park Drive in Loudoun County, Virginia. That’s where Damion Robinson was killed when his motorcycle was struck by a driver who said she didn’t see him. The couple had been together for seven years.
“In the beginning, it was raw, very raw, us living here. I lived here even a year after his passing. This was my commute to and from work, so, it was very raw. I wanted to make something so ugly into something so beautiful,” she told News4 in a recent interview.
The memorial used to be on the opposite side of the road. But earlier this year, Drincic noticed it kept disappearing and being torn down. She took to social media to describe her sadness and anger, and some of the responses she received were cruel. Some said, “We see you when you’re out there. We’ll pick up your trash. Mocking. The list goes on,” she said.
A resident of the neighboring Overlook community noticed the posts and contacted Drincic to offer support and friendship. Others did the same.
“It was kind of shocking to us as a community – someone is finding peace and happiness in this beautiful, upkept memorial and then it’s gone. And then it’s put back up. And in 24 hours it’s gone again,” one supporter said.
Video taken by a nearby resident and a wildlife camera showed people who dismantled the memorial, even when Drincic moved it to the other side of the road.
Community members offer their support and urge drivers to slow down
She and sympathetic residents struck on a new idea: installing a permanent bench to honor Robinson.
Residents showed their support in June, for the anniversary of his death, by putting purple balloons outside their homes, matching those at the memorial. Others put up signs reading “Please slow down.”
Drincic said she was moved by the gestures of support.
“It’s really, really relieving. It brings a community together that I did not think would happen at all,” she said.
She said she’s hopeful she will find a location where the idea for a memorial bench will be accepted, both to honor Robinson’s memory and to serve as a constant reminder that motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists are especially vulnerable.
“It would be in honor of Damron Sayvon Robinson, so it says his name. Then it says ‘Watch out for motorcyclists,’” Drincic said. “It’s not about me being heard; it’s every motorcyclist that wasn’t seen and their grieving families are heard.”
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