A fifteen-year-old high school cheerleader is killed while driving on a dangerous curve one afternoon. By that night, her classmates have erected a roadside cross decorated with silk flowers, not as a grim warning, but as a loving memorial. In this study of roadside crosses, the first of its kind, Holly Everett presents the history of these unique commemoratives and their relationship to contemporary memorial culture. The meaning of these markers is presented in the words of grieving parents, high school students, public officials, and private individuals whom the author interviewed during her fieldwork in Texas. Everett documents over thirty-five memorial sites with twenty-five photographs representing the wide range of creativity. Examining the complex interplay of politics, culture, and belief, she emphasizes the importance of religious expression in everyday life and analyzes responses to death that this tradition. Roadside crosses are a meeting place for communication, remembrance, and reflection, embodying on-going relationships between the living and the dead. They are a bridge between personal and communal pain–and one of the oldest forms of memorial culture. Scholars in folklore, American studies, cultural geography, cultural/social history, and material culture studies will be especially interested in this study.

Interview with attorney and Army Air Forces veteran Edward J. Drake. The interview includes Drake's personal experiences about being a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II, youth and education in Dallas, Texas, enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, various training programs, bombing transportation facilities during and after the Ardennes Offensive, crash-landing in Belgium after his plane was hit, and linking up with American troops. Additionally, Drake talks about his assignment to the 91st Bomb Group, the routine for a typical mission, formation flying, flying through enemy flak, rest and relaxation on-base and in London, recuperating from a collapsed lung, his return to combat for three more missions, and his return to the crash site of his plane 57 years later. The interview includes an appendix with "The Last Flight of 'Jezebel,'" written by Drake.

Concert presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Kenton Hall.

Concert presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Stan Kenton Hall.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Faculty recital at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Kenton Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Stan Kenton Hall.

Recital presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Recital presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Concert presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

Concert presented at the UNT College of Music Kenton Hall.

Concert presented at Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.