REMEMBERING BIANCA
Mom installs bench at high school in memory of road-rage victim
WESTTTOWN » A grieving mother wants to see that her daughter’s name is not forgotten.
Recently Michelle Roberson donated a memorial bench to West Chester’s Bayard Rustin High School in memory of her teenage daughter, Bianca Roberson, who was killed during a road-rage shooting last June, just days after she graduated from the school. Police say Roberson and the driver who shot her played a game of cat and mouse at 60 mph, during a lane merge, where the Route 100 Bypass goes from two lanes to one.
The bench will be placed in Connor’s Garden, which is accessible to students from the Rustin library where Thursday’s ceremony took place. The garden was named in honor of Rustin student Connor Whalen who passed away less than a decade ago.
Michelle Roberson hopes that students will meet to chat and laugh, with smiles on their faces, at the bench.
“Bianca is going to bring more in death than life,” Roberson said, as her cheeks were flooded with tears. “She will bring all these people together, to love and cry with each other.”
Stephenie Stevens, with the Chester County Community Foundation, which is working to preserve Bianca Roberson’s memory, said the gift would help create friendly dialogue among young people.
“We wanted people to start conversations and we want people to sit down and think,” Stevens said.
Bianca’s father, Rodney Roberson, noted that the bench also recognizes the loss of the couple’s other child, Mykel.
“It’s so nice they are honoring both the kids,” Rodney Roberson said. “I wish they were both here. It’s a surprise to know that the bench is going to be here forever.”
Bianca Roberson’s friends, senior class members Brianna Williams and Ryan Adams, also spoke at the brief ceremony.
Williams said with a smile that she and Bianca Roberson sometimes talked louder than was allowed in study hall.
“She was always there for me,” Williams said. “Bianca taught me to love myself. I know she’s with us now.”
Adams said she hoped the gift would keep the young woman’s memory alive.
“Her name will never be forgotten,” Adams said.
State Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D-156 of West Chester, addressed the audience of about 50 family members, students, teachers and school staffers.
“Out of tragedy will come triumph,” Comitta said. “This is a tragedy that no one should ever have to experience.”
Comitta then spoke about Michelle Roberson’s role to end gun violence. Michelle Roberson was instrumental in placing a couple of signs, one on Route 100, two miles from where Bianca Roberson was killed that reads, “Merge with Mercy.”
“This is a mom who is demanding action,” Comitta said. “She’s bringing people together on this bench.”
Rustin Principal Michael Marano read the Dylan Thomas poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night.”
He then invited the Robersons to revisit and to sit on Bianca’s bench, a framed photo of which was presented to her parents by Katie Bickel, a support staffer in the district.
David Desper, the driver of the other car who allegedly shot Roberson in the head as their cars drove side by side, is scheduled to go on trial on first-degree murder charges in September in Chester County Common Pleas Court. He is being held without bail in Chester County Prison.