MANSFIELD — Nick Lemon loved to garden, build waterfalls and forage for wild mushrooms.
Brandon Crawford was the father of two, known for his contagious smile and sense of humor and for being a jokester. He was fun loving and inspired others through his encouraging words.
Keisha Robson, who had four children, was a tomboy growing up with a heart full of love and light, willing to help anyone in need.
All three may have lost their lives to addiction, leaving behind family and friends.
But on Thursday morning, the community was reminded that all 48 people whose names were placed on The Jericho Wall were not numbers or statistics.
They were people who had lives and family that had nothing to do with addiction, their stories told in the words of their loved ones, read aloud by Rusty Cates, Lisa Bridges and Aurelio Diaz.
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It all took place before a huge crowd that gathered in the middle of a workday at the The Jericho Wall of Remembrance and Recovery for an hour-long dedication ceremony, fittingly performed on National Overdose Awareness Day.
It marked the opening of the facility along Dickson Avenue, east of Bowman Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, to remember those who have died of addiction, overdose or a related circumstance.
It’s just east of the First Christian Church, whose congregation allowed the parking lot to be used for the wall site.
Rev. Paul Lintern, who hosted the ceremony, was one of the planning committee members that brought the memorial art park into being.
“Thank you for understanding that while you sit there with a family, with a story, because of a family member, a friend, everyone around you is sitting here with with a story, too,” Lintern said in opening the event.
“Because of that, we have that in common. We are a community. We are a family that God has brought together, and you understand that. So let this be whatever it needs to be for the sake of everyone, everyone that is here,” Lintern said.
Rev. El Akuchie, who represents the 3rd Ward on Mansfield City Council, was also one of the planning committee drivers. He offered the invocation Thursday.
“We know, Father, this is holy ground. We know today, Father God, there’s hope being restored. We know that healing is taking place right now. Standing here, Father God, people are going to have a new vision of what you have for this Godsfield,” Akuchie said.
Diaz, a planning committee member and 5th Ward City Council member, said he was overwhelmed looking at “this ocean of people.”
“We have citizens, we have those who are survivors of recovery. We have family from those succumbed (to addiction). We have elected officials, we have artists, we have politicians. This is beautiful. This is how every gathering should be in our city,” he said.
Mayor Tim Theaker congratulated organizers, especially Lintern and Akuchie, for bringing their vision to life in the formerly non-descript parking lot and 190-foot-long wall.
“It was great that your vision came true. I really appreciate, and I think everybody here, and you can see all the people, that they’re thankful for the two of you that spearheaded this … to put this together,” Theaker said.
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State Rep. Marilyn John brought a proclamation from the State of Ohio honoring the new site.
“It is all of the elected officials and members of leadership that represent Richland County that are here with you today to stand arm-in-arm, heart-to-heart with all of you that have lost loved ones. We pray for you and thank you for the work that you did to bring this wall to the City of Mansfield and to Richland County,” John said.
Joe Trolian, a planning committee member and executive director at Richland County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, honored those in the audience that work in the drug addiction and mental health recovery field.
He also pointed to a concrete slab in the parking lot that will soon be the site of a pavilion.
“I was really, really hoping that we would also be also dedicating a really cool pavilion (today). But much like the road to recovery, which is frequently two steps forward and one back, we’ve run into some snag. But to me this is God’s way of saying he’s gonna give us another reason to have an event in a couple of months to dedicate the pavilion,” Trolian said.
Dr. Joseph Bocka, a Mansfield phyisican, and Bob Ball, chief investigator for the Richland County Coroner’s Office, spoke about the toll addiction takes on lives.
Both spoke about the day in June of 2016 when the city had 13 simultaneous overdoses.
“Since 2016, there have been 347 overdose deaths that have been reported. And the (Jericho) Wall is going to remember some of them. But they didn’t have names that were junkie or crackhead or dirtball or loser. Their names were Megan and Rusty and Michelle and whatever other name of people that you’re thinking of,” Bocka said.
Distribution of Narcan has helped to make a difference in overdose deaths, Bocka said.
“Last year, we gave out over 800 doses of Narcan in the community. This year, over 900 so far, and it’s making a difference. Richland County overdose deaths went from 52 in two in 2021 to 39 last year. So far this year we’re down 50 percent from what we were the year before. That’s amazing, isn’t it?” Bocka said.
Ball said he remembered first meeting Bocka in the OhioHealth Mansfield emergency room on the day of overdose deaths in 2016.
“Most of those still had the needles in their arms. I learned that from that point on those people belong to somebody. They have family, they have mothers, fathers. You know, it’s very emotional to see this because I’ve been praying for this for years. This is a miracle right here. This is God right here,” Ball said.
“Once I got into this and saw the addictions … it’s tough. It’s very tough. And to work with the families … most of the families have been destroyed because of the addiction … and trying to mend that back together with mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers,” Ball said.
The bulk of the ceremony was spent on the telling the stories of those whose names are now on The Jericho Wall.
“These are people when we first talked about (the wall) who said we could put 300 names on the wall. In fact, the names of everyone who’s died of an overdose, that is public record. We could have put every name on the wall.
“But we wanted the names to be there because people asked them to put them there. And so it made sense not to have an overwhelming number of names. It made sense to put the names that were right to be here. This day, 48 of them have been requested, and with each of them, I invited families or friends to send me a picture and give me a description,” Lintern said.
After the stories were told, Lintern thanked Luke Beekman of the Mansfield Public Arts Council who helping to spearhead the artwork commissioned for the wall. Beekman thanked each of the artists who participated, as well as the Richland Community Development Group Arts & Culture Sector and the Richland County Foundation.
“This wall is a metaphor for that struggle. It was a dingy wall. We had a lot of prep work in it. And transforming it from something that was almost an eyesore into something that has now become a place in the community … that’s the transformative power of public art,” said Beekman, also a member of the wall’s planning committee.
“We thank you so much for your commitment and thank you for bringing me on to be a part of this,” Beekman said.
At the end of the dedication, organizers distributed 24 small, white envelopes to family members in attendance. Each contained a Monarch butterfly from Pennsylvania.
“If you have never released a butterfly from an envelope like that, I haven’t either. I have no idea what is about to happen. But I ask you simply at this time to release the butterflies and let the spirit prevail,” Lintern said
“Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to South America every year. They don’t do it by themselves. They do it in five generations, getting there and coming back. They always come back to the same place. I’m thinking these poor Monarch butterflies, they don’t know what zip code they’re in right now,” Lintern said.
“And yet, God created these animals for this moment, for the promises that we are allowed to recognize.”
(Below are photos from the dedication ceremony Thursday of The Jericho Wall of Remembrance and Recovery in Mansfield.)
