BANGOR, Maine — Donations and a trust fund in the name of a homeless man who died after being struck by a car two weeks ago while crossing a street in downtown Bangor will pay for his funeral and, possibly, a grave marker, according to the Rev. Stan Moody, a senior pastor at Columbia Street Baptist Church.
Robert Wallace West, 50, died while crossing Hammond Street in front of a bench he was known to frequent and the community is coming together for his memorial, said Moody, who is helping to arrange the June 19 gathering. One of West’s nicknames was “JR.”
“JR apparently had some money in trust that will pay for the funeral director’s costs, thus keeping General Assistance from having to assume those costs,” Moody said in an email. “Because GA will be relieved of the responsibility, the City of Bangor has offered to give us a plot at Pine Grove [Cemetery], where we will be permitted to place a marker.”
Local residents also contributed to a funeral fund, raising $1,700.
“I am suggesting … that those moneys be directed to some kind of marker, to be worked out by the folks at the Unlimited Solutions Clubhouse,” Moody said.
Penobscot Community Health Care’s Unlimited Solutions Clubhouse, on Summer Street, is a gathering place with social, vocational and educational programs for men and women who have histories of psychiatric illness. Gov. Paul LePage was at the ribbon cutting in October 2012, and West gave him a tour and held the ribbon.
West, who was a regular at the Hope House, a shelter for people with drug and alcohol addictions, often could be seen sitting on a bench outside Mexicali Blues, which is located directly across Hammond Street from the Bahaar Pakistani Restaurant, where he often enjoyed a free weekend meal. The restaurant owners have said they believe that West was crossing the street with his shopping cart filled with his belongings for food.
He had a lengthy criminal history that made him a lifetime registrant on the Maine Sex Offender Registry.
The man driving the car that struck and killed West broke no laws, and therefore he will not be charged, Bangor police Detective Sgt. Dave Bushey has said.
The memorial for West is scheduled for 11 a.m. June 19 at the Columbia Street Baptist Church.
“After the service, we will walk down to the bench, say a few words, place a few flowers and be transported by whatever means possible to Pine Grove Cemetery for a committal service at 2 p.m.,” Moody said.
“I believe we will have an opportunity to make a statement of community love and compassion that JR never had a chance to make on his own,” he said later. “We will speak about and for JR.”