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Work softens sorrow |
A group of family and friends restore Jeremy
Burrows' prized Volkswagen in his memory and will drive it in the
Old Fashioned Festival parade |
By Amanda
Newman, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail Amanda at
anewman@eaglenewspapers.com
|
On July 29, 2006, while watching the Old Fashioned Festival parade
wind through the streets of Newberg, a mother made a promise to her
son: his family and friends would finish restoring his Volkswagen
Beetle and drive it in the parade the following year in his honor.
One week later, Jeremy “JB” Burrows died.
Since January, JB’s family and friends have been working on the
pale yellow 1970 Bug. As the car nears completion the group is
preparing to enter the car in next month’s parade. Lori Burrows’
promise to her son will be fulfilled.
JB, who his mother describes as a “kind, loving and funny young
man,” graduated from Newberg High School in 2003. He volunteered
with the middle and high school youth groups at Newberg’s First
Baptist Church (now Grace Baptist). He enjoyed wake boarding, dirt
biking, snow boarding, Frisbee golfing and playing baseball.
He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s T Cell Lymphoma in October.
After months of chemotherapy and radiation, he went into remission,
but relapsed in April 2006. Unable to find a compatible match for a
bone marrow transplant, JB died on Aug. 5, 2006, two hours after
marrying his childhood sweetheart, Emily Cook.
He was two weeks shy of his 21st birthday.
JB bought the Bug for $350 from his friend Scott Smits’ father,
Steve Smits of S & D Automotive, when he was 16. After driving it
for some time and being rear-ended, he decided to restore the car,
Lori Burrows said.
Trading odd jobs and yard work for friend Brian Seldon’s help, JB
began working on the car shortly before his diagnosis. He replaced
the headliner and window seals with the help of Scott Smits, and
Seldon painted the car.
Since his death, friends and family have come together to work on
what Lori Burrows calls “a true love bug.” Steve Smits located parts
and donated labor; Mike Doran of Doran Automotive loaned the use of
his shop for the undercoating, and Chuck and Kevin Cook did all the
undercoating work, as well as some paint and body work on the custom
tail lights and several small parts.
For the past six months the car has been kept at Scott Smits’
house, where the team of “helpers” has met about once a month to
work on the car. Carpet, upholstery, door panels, dashboard —
everything has been replaced, repainted or refinished. Lori Burrows
ordered custom license plates for the car, dubbed “JBS BUG.”
People who have worked on the car include the Smits, Seldon, the
Cooks, Kylie Vanbergen, Kris Blanchard, Chanelle Palmore, Paul
Brubaker, Logan Borg, Amber Fuller, Bekah Rasmussen and Pat and Lori
Burrows. Burrows said Scott Smits was responsible for the “biggest
part of the restoration,” saying, “Scott has made sure everything is
perfect on this bug. He will never ever know how much it means to
me.”
“My life has been changed forever and I feel as if I have lost a
limb somehow,” Burrows said of the pain of losing a child. “(But) I
have been so pleased with all the kids and adults and family members
who have come forward and put many, many long hours into this. It
has been therapy for all of us, I think. It brings us together and
brings a smile to my face each time I see all the love and hard work
going into JB’s Bug.”
The car will appear in the Old Fashioned Festival parade July 28,
driven alternatively by Scott Smits, the Burrows’ and JB’s brother
Nick and accompanied on foot by friends and family. Individual roses
will be placed on the bug by friends and family, then taken to JB’s
grave in the Garden of Memories at Newberg’s Valley View Memorial
Park. |
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From
June 16, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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