Preserving Loved Ones’ Memories in Marble

The image, thousands of names of drunk-driving victims engraved on a wall of Italian marble, has sustained Ronald and Janice McInroy through the last few months.

The McInroys of Anaheim Hills hope to build such a wall as a place where strangers can come to share their mutual loss.

Five days before Christmas, the McInroys’ daughter, Lori Ann Curler, 34, of Orange was killed by a drunk driver.

She left a husband of seven years and a 6-year-old son.

“We’re providing a place where like victims can get together, a place to see that their loved ones are not just names you read in the paper,” said Ronald McInroy, 65.

The family hopes that the Victims of Drunken Drivers Memorial Wall, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, will impress people with the magnitude of the tragedy of drunk driving.

The McInroys have raised about $12,000 of the $60,000 needed for construction of the wall. They need half of the amount before they can place the order for the marble from Italy.

As planned, the wall be 16 feet high and 12 feet wide. It will be housed in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, which is donating the space and will provide lighting.

Several thousand names will fit on the wall, along with a carving of an angel. A meditation bench would be placed nearby.

The money is being raised through a grass-roots effort, which has led to bonding among families of victims. The McInroys said they have received photos and news paper clippings from families who have gone through the same ordeal.

Curler’s brother, Kevin McInroy of Lake Oswego, Ore., said he received a call from a woman who is putting $5 into a cookie jar each week for the wall.

The McInroys are asking for $250 for each name, the cost of engraving up to 30 characters including birth and death dates. If the families cannot afford it, they will help find sponsors, he said. Each year, the McInroys plan to have a dedication ceremony for new names.

Last year in Orange County, 53 people were killed and 2,622 were injured by drunk drivers, said Reidel Post, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Orange County. Nationally, 17,274 people were killed and an estimated 900,000 were injured.

“If this wall helps one person, it can make a difference,” said Curler, who plans to take his son, Brandon, to view the finished wall.

Those who want more information about the memorial can contact (800) 359-2685 or write to The Victims of Drunken Drivers Memorial Wall Foundation, 5761 East La Palma Ave., Suite 190, Anaheim Hills, CA 92807.