Fallen Motorcyclist Memorial

Hopedale, Ohio

The Fallen Motorcyclist Memorial resembles the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC: a long wall inscribed with names of the dead. Each end of the wall is bookended by a full-size 2-D motorcycle carved from granite. The memorial is built so that as more motorcyclists die, the bikes at each end can slide outward so that more slabs can be added.

At its 1993 dedication, the central black granite "Motherstone" was flanked by only two slabs of names. Now the memorial extends several hundred feet with dozens of slabs.

A quick perusal of the names -- and there are a lot of names -- suggests that memorialized motorcyclists rarely reach retirement age. Brent "Blockhead" Long was 32. Patty "Hot Dawg" Beres was 46. Wayne "Insane" McLean was an old man at 61.

Around the memorial is a "Walkway of Memories," paved with bricks inscribed with custom epitaphs such as, "In Memory of Skull," and, "See you again, Uncle Rat." There's also a gazebo with a guest book for signatures, a binder for finding names on the wall, and a framed poem, "Silent Thunder," written by a minister who performed a biker wedding at the memorial. The poem reads, in part:

"Fearsome looking and thoroughly leather clad,
It was always the stereotypes of others that made them bad.
With their throttle half open and hell bound,
Their tailpipes as angels' trumpets made a heavenly sound."

Artist Anne Milligan engraved the central Motherstone with an image of a biker guy and gal in their prime, barreling down a winding highway beneath the wings of a big Bald Eagle. Neither biker wears a helmet as they curve into the eternal.