Rick Lingel's son died when another driver pulled in front of the 24-year-old man's motorcycle.
Martin Loya's father suffered heart failure.
Lynn Laos' son was riding his bicycle when he was hit by a car.
All chose to memorialize their loved ones by adopting roadways in Pima County.
Families say the roadway markers, provided free of charge by the Pima County Department of Transportation Adopt-a-Roadway Program, are tangible reminders of the people they've lost.
"We go by that accident site every day," said Lingel, whose son, Erik, was killed on May 28, 1997, just minutes after leaving their driveway on his motorcycle. "We think about him every day."
Erik, a former Marine, was studying to become a doctor. After his death, his father, a former Pima County Sheriff's Department detective, donated $10,000 — money raised by family and friends — to the neurosciences research lab at the University of Arizona.
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Still, Lingel wanted a more tangible way to remember his son and to keep Erik's memory alive for his friends. He adopted a stretch of Redington Road in his son's memory a month after Erik's death.
"I beep the horn every time I go by there, and say, 'Hang in there, dude,' " Lingel said. "I adopted it because, dadgummit, it's a sacred site to me."
Though volunteers are only obligated to clean the roadsides twice a year, Lingel walks the road often, picking up trash. During Memorial Day weekend and on a weekend near Erik's December birthday, Lingel recruits friends of his son to perform cleanups that draw 50 or more volunteers.
"Instead of moping around, feeling bad, we get a group of people together who knew him, have brunch, introduce each other and do the cleanup," he said. "We do it to keep a good memory going."
More than a quarter of the roads adopted in Pima County are in memory of loved ones, said Annabelle Quihuis, community relations manager for the county Department of Transportation.
Any individual or group can adopt a two-mile stretch of road, provided the segment is safe for pedestrians to pick up trash. The Adopt-a-Roadway coordinators consider traffic volume, speed limit and shoulder width. The county asks for a two-year commitment from each group. Safety vests and trash bags are provided by the county, which picks up the bags of trash after each scheduled cleanup.
Brad and Cindy Opdyke adopted a section of Pontatoc Road in memory of Cindy's parents, Harold and Patricia Wilkins, who both died in 2002. The Wilkinses were driving on Interstate 10 in May 2002 when a semi truck sideswiped their vehicle, Cindy Opdyke said. The Wilkinses' vehicle flipped over, and Patricia was killed instantly. Harold survived the crash, but he died of cancer later that year.
The Opdykes adopted the road a year ago in memory of the couple, who loved the Sonoran Desert landscape.
"They were very giving," Brad Opdyke said. "Pat was a docent at Saguaro National Monument East for many years. They loved the desert. It's just a way for us to continue their spirit of giving back in a very tangible way, in their honor, and doing something worthwhile."
Seeing the sign on her daily drives sparks Cindy Opdyke's memories of her parents.
"For some people, it's painful to remember, but you just remember the good things, the important things, the life lessons," she said. "After a hard day, you drive home and it (the sign) kind of keeps you grounded and focused. It reminds you where you came from."
A few months ago, the Laos family adopted a length of Old Father Drive in memory of Kory Laos, who died in May 2007 two days shy of his 15th birthday. Laos was riding his bicycle when he was struck by a motorist. The road the family adopted is along a route Kory and his friends frequently traveled.
"We thought that would be perfect because not only was his elementary school there, but a lot of his friends travel that road up and down every day," said his mother, Lynn Laos. "We thought, 'How perfect would that be to see his sign every day?' "
Family and friends schedule twice-yearly cleanups, and the family decorates the county Adopt-a-Roadway sign for special occasions — Christmas, Kory's birthday, Valentine's Day.
"To this day, I haven't been able to go back to the site of the accident, so we use that site there to memorialize him," Kory's mother said.
Martin Loya adopted a road in his father's memory nine years ago. It was particularly apropos, Loya said, because his father, Armando G. Loya, spent 38 years maintaining roads for the Tucson Department of Transportation. He died of a heart attack in 2000, soon after his retirement.
Martin Loya chose a section of Valencia Road that family members frequently travel.
"It's funny how I think of my dad," Loya said of the memories stirred during trash cleanups.
"The first cleanup I did, I had over 50 people out there," Loya said. "My 85-year-old grandma was out there, and they were cook-ing. It was a big old family thing."
Over the years, the turnout has dwindled. Sometimes, it's just Loya and his son. For a cleanup earlier this month, 10 relatives came out. It took them three hours, including taking water and snack breaks, to finish.
Loya said he has sometimes asked himself why he's still doing the work nine years later. The answer: "I'm serving the community, and I'm also doing this for my dad."
He added: "I'm going to stick to this. I hope my kids will keep going with this after I'm gone."
By The Numbers
1992
Year the Pima County Department of Transportation Adopt-a-Roadway Program began
325
Miles of adopted roadway in Pima County
30
Miles of road still available for adoption
200
Groups that have adopted roads
53
Roads adopted in memory of a loved one
3 to 4
Hours it takes to clean up a stretch of road
3,500
Bags of trash picked up each year by Adopt-a-Roadway volunteers
$162,500
Taxpayer dollars saved each year from volunteer cleanups
