DEBERT, N.S.—On days when he’s feeling up to it, Nick Beaton heads to a rural road just outside of Debert, N.S., where a makeshift memorial pays tribute to his late wife and unborn child.
It’s been almost a month since Kristen Beaton was killed by a gunman who took the lives of 21 other people during a frenzy of violence across northern and central Nova Scotia.
The continuing-care assistant was on her way to work with the Victorian Order of Nurses on April 19, when the killer—disguised as a Mountie and driving a replica RCMP cruiser—pulled over her car and shot her for no apparent reason.
On a lonely gravel turnoff on Plains Road, her roadside shrine includes bouquets, photos, cards, candles and a wooden bench under a small canopy, where Nick Beaton can sometimes be found sitting amid scores of stuffed animals.
“I call it Kristen’s site—it’s where it happened,” he said in an interview. “I don’t go there every day, as I believe she’s in my heart and she’s in my home, too.”
Not far from the bench is a two-metre tall letter K, and nestled among some Nova Scotia flags and potted pansies is a small rock covered with painted roses and the words, “Kristen & Baby.”
The humble site is one of several similarly appointed memorials along the twisting, tree-lined roads in Colchester and Cumberland counties—improvised but sacred spots that speak to a province in mourning.
A short drive south on Plains Road is a memorial for another victim: Beaton’s VON colleague, Heather O’Brien. Her family has planted a small flower garden there, and there’s also another bench and canopy.
A homemade sign proclaims: “Proud Nurse.”
