the humphrey family web site
On this page are the dedications done through Parents of Suicide, either as part of a group project or done by individuals who included Darren for us. On a desktop, laptop or tablet, hover your cursor over the frames to reveal the photograph.
Karyl, Mom of Arlyn, whose vision founded Parents of Suicides, and her husband, Ronnie, Dad of Arlyn, had two Christmas trees on permanent display at their home in Pavo, Georgia, and parents could have the names and photographs of their children added to them.
This Quilt was presented to Karyl with the individual quilt squares made by POS members.
This is the quilt square that we made for the Quilt.
This is the quilt square that we made for Darren for the next POS Quilt project.
Ronnie & Karyl had a picnic pavilion constructed on their grounds to use during POS Retreats. POS members were invited to have a Flag Stone dedicated to their children added around the base.
This is the Flag Stone dedicated to
Darren.
The rafters in the Butterfly Pavilion were marked off in sections so that parents attending the retreats could add a dedication to their children. This is the section that Lynda did for Darren.
Lynda writing on the rafter helped by Alice, Mom of Colin,
Lynda holding a balloon that has a message to Darren written on it and also attached.
In 2006 Karyl & Ronnie moved from Pavo, Georgia, to Columbia, Tennessee, to be near their son. They transported the rafters of the Butterfly Pavilion with them and built a new Butterfly Pavilion incorporating the rafters and also the flagstones. They added an extra part on the end of the Butterfly Pavilion to house a new project, the “Suicide Memorial Wall”.
They found a local business which engraved photos onto a metallic tile which was then placed on the “Wall”, This is Darren’s tile.
Unfortunately due to ill health they had to move so the hunt was on for a new location for the “Wall”, which they eventually found in the headquarters of the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network. This new “Wall” became known as the “International Suicide Memorial Wall”. Anybody can have a tile of a loved one who died by suicide added, not just members of Parents of Suicide.
One of the features of a Retreat was sharing our children with the other parents and we were encouraged to bring items of interest to our children and put them on display and talk about them on one of the evenings. Because of the distance and limit to what we could bring we used to take photograph albums that portrayed Darren’s life. This is a picture of me explaining some of the more meaningful photographs.
Karyl was always coming up with projects for the group to partake in and this included two editions of a Memorial Book, these included a gallery of photographs of our loved ones and then either half-page or full-page Memorials. This is the half-page I designed for Darren for the first book.
This is the half-page I designed for the second book showing the relationship between Darren and his sister and Darren and his niece, which was placed underneath the half-page design from the first book.
We often had craft workshops at Retreats and this picture shows the plate that Lynda decorated for Darren. Lynda pasted the material onto the back of the plate, then the photograph of Darren on the front of the plate.
Trish, Mom of Melissa & Brian, had a T-shirt decorated to ”Remember Our Children” on a ”POS Garden” theme.
Darren’s name is in the bottom right-hand corner.
A POS member, Brenda, Mom of Rick & Jason, had T-shirts airbrushed and personalised, the rainbow was done with the appearance of the colour running to represent our tears.
This is the brick that Patty, Mom of Allen, & Logan arranged on our behalf to be placed in a “Garden of Remembrance” in Evansville, Indiana, which is dedicated to children who have died.
This is a copy of the plaque that Shari, Mom of Butch, placed, along with others, on a wall in her back garden in Chilliwack, British Columbia. She then sent us this copy which I have on show at our house (along with a copy of the tile placed on the Suicide Memorial Wall).
Subette, a POS member who lives in England, abseiled 160' down Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital in London, she offered to write the names of our children on sunflowers which she then strapped to her left leg whilst abseiling down.
This is one of the five sunflowers that Subette wrote on, the position of Darren’s name is at approx. 4 o’clock.
One of the sunflowers being launched into the River Thames.
Sara, Mom of Katrina, regularly takes part in the AFSP’s Out Of Darkness Walk, she puts a “Tree of Life” on display which is decorated with leaves with names of those lost to suicide.
In 2017 it was at Columbia, Maryland. This is the leaf she put on the tree for Darren that year.
The following nine photographs are of artwork created by Smita, Mom of Neil
