RIVERVIEW, N.B. – Eight months after he was killed, Savannah Deschenes still has a hard time look at a photo of her husband.
Const. Frank Deschenes was killed last October after being struck by a vehicle on the side of the road near Memramcook, N.B. He had stopped his police cruiser on the Trans Canada Highway to help a motorist change a tire when a utility van plowed into him, killing the 35-year-old RCMP instantly.
Now his widow has a painting to remember him.
“I love that painting,” Deschenes said of the portrait completed by Dave Sopha of Portraits of Honour. “He even got the eyes pretty much exact. It’s was surreal because I still can’t look at pictures of him. It’s so hard.”
Sopha and members of Chapter 11 of the Defenders Motorcycle Club drove to Deschenes’ Riverview home in a motorcade of motorcycles on June 21 to present her with the painting and pay tribute to her fallen husband.
Deschenes said she is building a new home in the Moncton area and already has plans for Sopha’s work.
“His portrait will be featured prominently in the house,” she said.
Const. Bryce Haight served with Deschenes when he was stationed at the Cumberland RCMP detachment in Amherst. He said the painting is very patriotic and represents what Deschenes was all about.
Haight said the Defenders motorcycle club meant a lot to Deschenes and he was proud of his membership with the group. He said the club was a large part of his life.
“It’s emotional to see the painting and I’m very honoured that the artist has taken the time to honour Frank in this way and I’m glad that the support is here from the Defenders,” Haight said. “I’m also very grateful by this event that people realize how large in life Frank was.”
Sopha began Portraits of Honour in 2008 in honour of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. With his talents in the visual arts as an airbrush artist with more than 40 years’ experience, he picked up a paint brush and oil paints and went to work honouring those soldiers killed in the line of duty.
He has completed paintings of those lost in Afghanistan and in 2014, he completed a painting that includes the faces of the soldiers. He is working on other paintings featuring Canadian peacekeepers and is painting portraits of those first responders who have lost their lives on the job across Canada.
“Most people have no idea what these young men and women do on the highway every day and every night. When someone is sick or in an accident, these first responders are there to help you. It can be the RCMP, OPP, city police, fire and ambulance,” Sopha said. “When I heard about Frank last fall I knew I had to do something to honour and pay tribute to him.”
He said the paintings help bring closure to the families, by having the chance to look into the eyes of their loved ones one more time and helps them know their legacy lives on.
For Randy Thurber of the Defenders Motorcyle Club, the portrait is an act of respect.
“It’s about respect and how much Frank was loved by his friends, his detachment and his club,” Thurber said.
Another member of the Defenders, Art Brown, said Deschenes will never be forgotten.
“He made quite an impression on everyone he knew and dealt with on any occasion,” Brown said.
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
