Memorial for Timothy Wilkin
/ Andy Wolf
SYRACUSE -- Anunusual memorial service took place Friday under a bridge in Syracuse near the place where a homeless man burned to death last week.
About 30 people, including members of a homeless encampment, attended the service below the Route 690 overpass at McBride Street to remember 40-year-old Timothy Wilkin. Wilkin died September 14th, when the barbecue he was using to stay warm caught fire.
Wilkin's mother who lives in Florida attended the service.
Mary Jane Wilkin said her son "was a free spirit and he made his own decisions. He chose a very difficult path."
Arthur Wine says he and Wilkin lived in the nearby homeless encampment. He said, the shocking circumstances surround the death brought attention to the plight of the homeless.
"Sometimes in the life we live in, it takes a tragedy to bring people together. So something good did come out of his death," says Wine.
The service was conducted by Reverend John Manno of St. James Catholic Church.
Manno told reporters, "the greatest misperception is why can't they [the homeless] get a job. I think the reality is, there's a lot of reason whey they can't get a job; different addictions, different things going on in their lives, different psychological and emotional problems, and physical problems that has left them homeless."
