When Cartney Warren learned of Pete Seigo’s death last week, she was touched, like hundreds of Maple Ridge residents about the passing of a gentle soul she had grown accustomed to seeing on Maple Ridge’s streets for years.
She then turned to her artwork to help her express how she felt and over the course of a week or so, painted a portrait of Pete at his usual past-time, whiling away the time, outside the 7-Eleven on Laity Street.
“I guess that’s what I do, is paint things when I’m emotional about it,” Warren said Tuesday.
“My whole drive was to highlight Pete’s kindness.”
Warren said on Facebook that she first saw Pete when she was 12 years old in that same neighbourhood. “So much has changed since then, in this city and in my life, but Pete remained the same. A symbol of home, of Maple Ridge.”
She said that Pete is a reminder that while the city has grown, it’s still “small town Maple Ridge.”
She added that Pete “unknowingly has connected so many of us through kindness, kindness he showed others and kindness others showed him. I love that everyone has a Pete story. He really will be so truly missed.”
She hopes that in honour of his memory, people will remember to be compassionate “to all our Maple Ridge neighbours.”
Warren said that homelessness has become a complicated and controversial issue and doesn’t know what the answer is.
“But what I do know is everyone is worthy of compassion and kindness. Everyone has a story.”
She’d like to make prints up and use the proceeds to help a local charity.
The painting is currently in the Maple Ridge Public Library and will be there until the end of the month and is part of the Garibaldi Art Club display for October.
A Farewell Pete memorial takes place Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in Memorial Peace Park in downtown Maple Ridge.
