Mom remembers ‘holiday girl’ with Bluffton Parkway memorial

Motorists on Bluffton Parkway just east of the Hampton Parkway intersection may have noticed the roadside memorial to Christine Barrett, 18, who died in a car crash there in August 2016.

It’s hard to miss the unofficial marker, which sits at the crash site on the south shoulder of the road, tucked in against a wall of young trees. And though it started as a tribute to a lost loved one, in recent weeks it has taken on a holiday air.

As is sometimes the case when someone dies in a road accident, a makeshift memorial to Christine was spontaneously erected by friends and family right after the crash.

In fact, there are several other roadside memorials to people killed in traffic accidents throughout Beaufort County, including two other memorials to the victims of recent crashes along Bluffton Parkway. One, near Pinecrest Drive, honors Sam Bougus and Noah Fedele, who died in a crash on May 15. The other, located near the entrance to Bluestone Apartments, is for Pressana Grant, who died in a single-vehicle crash on Nov. 1.

Christine’s mother, Valerie Barrett, said she was motivated to create the memorial for the daughter she calls a “guardian angel” and who helped her recover from a bout with cancer because she “just wanted something there for her .... I wanted her to be remembered.” And it has worked, she said: “Her friends will drive by and blow their horn and say, ‘hi, Chrissy’.”

Always well-tended, it is centered around a cross with Christine’s name on it. Over time, friends and family have turned out to tend it and it has grown and changed with the seasons. For the holidays, they have added a white Christmas tree with pink ornaments, a manger scene and a silver holiday wreath.

“She was my holiday girl,” explained Barrett, “she was the one who would decorate the house for the holidays.”

“I’m going to make sure that every season and every holiday is something different for her .... It’s like I’m doing something for her still.”

Friends who have seen it have told her they think it’s beautiful. “They say it’s all white with pink, that’s so Chrissy.”

Christine was killed in the early morning hours of August 27, 2016, when the car driven by Leonard Brown Jr., then 27, ran off the road and crashed. Brown was later arrested and faces a charge of reckless homicide, according Jeff Kidd, communications director for the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

While those who knew and loved Christine Barrett await the outcome of Brown’s pending case, they tend to the marker in her honor.

“Chrissy loved her friends and family,” her mother said. “It was a very mutual thing.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Mom remembers ‘holiday girl’ with Bluffton Parkway memorial."