Road:
Northbound CA State Hwy 65, 2 ¾ miles north of
Ducor
Location:
Ducor, California
Victim:
Fidel
G. Ruis
Date of Accident: 10-4-98
Inscription:
“Fidel
Ruis
08-02-73
10-04-98”
Age: 25
Description:
This is by far the most elaborate road cross
I’ve seen. It is a magnificent
black wrought-iron cross, lovingly decorated with new fake flowers.
The cross is wonderfully ornate and quite striking when viewed from the
road. Absolutely beautiful.
The victim's name and stats are painted on a plaque in the middle of the
cross.
Analysis:
As
nice as this road memorial is, I gotta say it: The victim is probably
another Central Valley migrant farm worker. With its curves and vanilla scenery, this is a fairly easy road to drive. It is not too far from
Porterville, a rather disgusting pit of a city stuck in the middle of nowhere,
so it gets a fair amount of traffic. I suspect poor Fidel was driving
home to Porterville after a night on the town in Bakersfield. I suspect
he met his maker after being lulled to sleep by the gently winding road.
But to make this more
dramatic, let's say that he valiantly swerved to avoid a cow that wandered
onto the road. Once his tires hit the unpaved side of the road, he lost
control of the car and flipped it. Poor Fidel was thrown from the car and impaled on a
nearby fence. Who knows, it may have happened that way. Incidentally,
his parents are still maintaining the cross 4 years after the accident.
In fact, a new bouquet graces the road memorial as we speak...
