THUNDER BAY - Members of a community still reeling from a recent homicide are banding together to memorialize the man they say was the light of the neighbourhood.
Amy Manning and Caly Bracal Currie are hoping to build two memorial benches on the same playground where 25-year-old William Otis Perkins was stabbed and killed last week.
“He was the light in so many people’s lives and he brought joy to so many people’s faces,” Bracal Currie said of Perkins, who was a close friend and godfather to her two children.
A second bench will be placed in memory of Stacy Allan Casey ‘JR’ Kejick, a friend of Perkins who was killed in October 2015.
The memorial benches will be paid for using donations collected during a community basketball tournament held earlier this summer.
Originally the funds were to be used for bouncy castles for the playground, but Manning and Bracal Currie said that in the wake of the recent tragedy, a memorial to their friend and neighbour felt more appropriate.
“It’s been really difficult for the whole community,” Bracal Currie said. “Everyone knew Otis as a kind, gentle, caring person. He was great with kids and all kinds of people. He did so much to keep this community sane. He would help out whenever he could. When we raised the money for the jumpy castles for the kids, he was right in there and going all out as much as he could.”
Bracal Currie said that it was difficult explaining to the children in the neighbourhood that they would not be getting a bouncy castle for the playground, but children of all ages knew that something terrible had happened in the community, and were more than willing to make the sacrifice.
“We had to explain to the children that the money that we raised for their jumpy castle was going to be put toward the benches and if that was okay with them,” she said. “Kids ages four and up were fine with that. Just to respect Otis and show gratitude and mourn for him.”
Manning has known Perkins since she was 12-years-old and went through the New Experience Program with him as teenagers and said that he wanted to bring a similar program to the community to help local children.
“He was such a good person and a kind person,” Manning said. “He was the kindest person that I’ve ever known.”
Manning is hopeful that the benches will not only be a lasting symbol to who Perkins was, but also become a sign of hope for the entire community.
“I just hope that we can start pulling together as a community and start being better role models for the younger generation,” she said. “They see fighting and drinking all the time. I feel we should start doing other things and showing them other things on a weekly basis. Not just violence and drugs and alcohol, but to show them more positive things.”
Manning and Bracal Currie have collected over 150 signatures from the community in support of the memorial benches, which they say shows how much support there is for the project and how much love the community has for Perkins.
Bracal Currie said that what happened to Perkins was a senseless act of violence and no one should ever have to experience that kind of tragedy.
“I hope that when people see this bench here that it will remind them how fast a life can be taken from you even one that is great and should have never been taken from us,” she said.
“It can happen to anybody at any moment, so you have to cherish every moment of your life. I really hope that these kids around here respect and care about these benches. We are not just a community. Limbrick is actually a really big family.”
