A truck speeds by Joan Terlisner’s memorial on Hwy. 371 across from Wilson Valley Road. Anza Valley Outlook/Diane Sieker photo
Driving on America’s highways and byways reveals thousands of roadside memorials, from state-compliant signs to crosses with flowers and solar lights. Carefully tended markers commemorate sites where a person or persons died suddenly and unexpectedly while traveling. Anza’s State Highway 371 is home to several of these memorials.Each shrine marks the last place where a person was alive, many having lost their lives due to an auto accident.Usually a roadside memorial is created and maintained by family members or friends of the deceased. Memorials can be simple bunches of real or imitation flowers, attached to guard rails, signposts or foliage. Sometimes these are embellished with ribbons, wreaths, holiday items, toys and solar lights. Handwritten messages and personal mementos
