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Originally Posted by Mike P
Has anyone ever noticed that little shrine, about 100' off the eastbound side of the Pike, out in the Ludlow/Wilbraham area? Lighted at night. I was always curious to see what it was all about. It looks too far off the road to be a memorial to someone who was killed in an accident. Been there for at least 40 years.
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Here's the story Mike.
WARREN – Regular travelers along the eastbound stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike here between Palmer and Sturbridge know of the shrine that stands watch from a wooded glen.
Illuminated at night, it appears almost as if out of nowhere in a clearing.
Known by many names – the Madonna of the Turnpike and the Lady of the Highway among them, this statue of the Virgin Mary has been stationed for about 47 years by the side of the turnpike in West Warren.
The shrine is testament to a man’s love for his wife, who was stricken with cancer, and their belief in the power of prayer.
In 1964, Alfred Brodeur placed the 2-foot-high cement statue of Mary on a pedestal of field stones in the clearing. The previous year, his first wife, Eldora, was diagnosed with breast cancer; she survived, and the statue was his mission to give thanks.
Today, the statue and the area are maintained by Brodeur’s daughter Diane F. Fontaine, 70, and her husband Elmer “Bud” J. Fontaine, 75.
“He was just a little, old farmer man who loved his wife very much,” Diane Fontaine said about her father.
On a recent weekday, the Fontaines made the short trek from their farmhouse on Knox Trail Road to the shrine. They donned hunter orange to prevent wayward hunters during black powder season from mistaking them for deer.
A soft coating of snow covered the ground, and they moved across the wooden bridge over a brook to the statue in the clearing. Someone had left a Christmas tree. Cars whizzed by on the turnpike.
“He put her here to inspire faith and prayer,” Diane Fontaine explained. “It was his way of thanking her for my mother being cured.”
Fontaine recalled her father had said that if his wife got better, he had promised God and the blessed mother he would erect a statue, and that he would do it by himself. She said her mother lived another 18 years. She said her father also quit smoking – he had been a chain smoker – and quit drinking, although he wasn’t a big drinker.
The statue attracts a lot of attention.
Turnpike travelers will call the police, or the local church, to inquire about it, Fontaine said. Some motorists even stop on the turnpike – something which is discouraged – to leave notes, flowers or rosaries behind.
For those who want to visit the shrine, Fontaine said they can contact her family instead of parking on the busy turnpike.
“Some people leave rosaries and medals. We also leave rosaries for people to take,” Fontaine said. “We’ve met people from all over, people who’ve seen it for so many years.”
For many years, the family would find notes from someone named Eugene, who always asked that a prayer be said for him.
She said her father used to walk up to the statue every night with a battery-powered lantern, so it would be illuminated for the nighttime drivers. As an anniversary gift to their parents one year, she and her siblings had an electrical line run from the barn underground to the statue so he didn’t have to make the trek, Fontaine said.
Her parents, who were married 51 years, ran a dairy farm on the property, and also offered pony rides.
The Brodeurs had three children, Diane, Jeanne Baptiste, of Chicopee, and the late Alfred A. Brodeur, who died this past summer, and used to help Bud Fontaine maintain the land for the statue. The elder Alfred Brodeur died in 1998.
“My parents were simple farmers who really had an awful lot of faith ... and who loved everyone,” Diane Fontaine said. “They went through the Depression. They moved to Canada, thinking it would be easier. It wasn’t, so they came back here.”
Diane Fontaine says her mother, who she described as a reserved woman, was always worried about the wrong kind of publicity the statue might bring. Her father originally thought about placing it closer to their home, but hoped it would inspire more people from the spot near the turnpike, she said.
Baptiste added that her father wanted everyone who drove by “to think of Mary and to think of Jesus and to think of God.”
“We’ve been told many times by people who have driven by Mary that they have been inspired by her,” Baptiste said.
For now, Diane Fontaine and her husband will continue to take care of the statue. They’re unsure who will take over when they are no longer able to maintain the area; Diane Fontaine said she is just thankful she had the parents she did, and hopes the statue continues to inspire and promote prayer for years to come.
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