Remembering the Victims Candlelight Vigil END DWI Memorial Grove

Richard Leschynski
Age 22

My Best Friend

A drunk driver killed my son.  This is the story about the impact my son’s death had on our family.  Richard was my only child, big, beautiful and blonde.  Richard was a model in NYC for Barbizon and Glamour models.  He had the biggest blue eyes and just would dazzle you with his smile and his jokes. 
                       
Richard had very many friends, and was a good friend to many.  The doorbell rang at 2:30am, and a police officer told me there had been an accident.  All alone, I drove to the hospital to find out that my son was dead.  The day my son died, I died too.  Although I wake up everyday, I feel as though I am a walking zombie.  My son was my best friend.  He hung out at the house with his friends; they were always here. 

The man responsible for his death had a choice not to drink and drive, but he chose to drive and take away the love of my life.  Everything I had planned just died, as did my son.  Never to see him get married, or for me to at least have a grandchild.  That drunk driver ripped me and my family off.  The driver still drives today and goes unpunished.  My sentence for life – life without my son. 

A widow’s only child ripped out of my life by somebody stupid and drunk.

 

Submitted by Linda Leschynski, Richard’s mother

If Only You Could Be Here
Submitted by Heather Parker, “Ski’s sweetie-heart”

I wish you were here
Because I know you’d catch my every tear
I can’t stop myself from crying
Just like you couldn’t avoid dying.

I miss our long talks
And our Alpine walks.
Football season isn’t the same
I miss you every Giant’s game.

I miss the way you’d always smell so good
And the way you acted like you were from the hood
I miss your crazy joke
And the two of us going out for a smoke.

No one made me smile like you
That’s something you’d always do
You were a great friend,
I never thought this is how it would end.

I used to get lost in your big blue eyes,
They used to leave me memorized
I miss hugging you tight
I wish I was with you that night.

I miss your passionate kiss,
For just one more I wish
You were an amazing man
Who touched people in a way no one else can.

I miss everything about you
And everything you do
I know death is a part of life
But it’s like yours was cut short with a knife.

At age 22 you’re dead
Because some man didn’t use his head
Maybe if his friends didn’t let him drink and drive
My friend would still be alive.

I hope he’s living with guilt and pain
And when he tries to sleep all he hears is your name
I hope he’s paying for what he did
Living life knowing he killed a widow’s only kid.

Your death was sad and unfair
I wrote this to let you know I still care
I look at your picture and stare
It’s just not fair.

At midnight people everywhere screamed “Happy New Year”
And your mother met a mother’s worst fear
I know you’d catch my every tear
If you could only be here…

Rest In Peace Richard “Ski” Leschynski
June 11, 1980-January 1, 2003