Did you hear the one about the Jewish Salesman who loved telling jokes?

June 23, 2023 7:00 AM

Here we fondly remember Stanley Michael Harris, 3.3.23 - 22.2.93 Found on OpenBenches, a collaborative website collecting geolocations and metadata of memorial benches.

Whether they're dedicated to people you've heard of or people you haven't, victims of terrorism or survivors of cancer or nobody at all, these benches provide a moment of peace and respite. Maybe you'll even make a friend.

And, if you like, you can contribute towards the endless effort to catalogue all the benches-with-plaques you can find, through this project of Terence Eden's (previously, previouslier).

posted by avapoet (12 comments total)

What a cool idea. I'd love more of these kind of geolocated listing sites. I think that Google Maps even has the ability to share a list. Next up, George Costanza's city bathroom top 10!
posted by ianhorse at 7:27 AM on June 23, 2023

My family is dedicating a memorial bench to my parents in a couple of weeks. It will be at the trailhead of their favorite biking route. They loved biking and were hardly ever apart in 60+ years of marriage.
It will give their names and say “Enthusiastic cyclists—always in tandem”
posted by librosegretti at 8:21 AM on June 23, 2023 [10 favorites]

While I am hopefully nowhere close to dying, the one instruction I have given my wife should I predecease her is absolutely no memorial bench.

Stanley’s is fun, though!
posted by Captaintripps at 8:25 AM on June 23, 2023

No benches in my city are listed, looks like I'll have to get busy. There is a lot to document as it seems like my city doesn't install a bench unless someone else pays for it; practically every single one has a plaque. And there is such a back log they've stopped taking names.

Which considering there are lots of places that could use a bench and don't have one seems like the sort of problem that can be solved with proper pricing.

I wonder what the penalty for installing a bench without permission is?
posted by Mitheral at 8:40 AM on June 23, 2023

As an aside as time marches on that is a very confusing set of dates at first glance from the vantage point of June 2023
posted by Mitheral at 8:42 AM on June 23, 2023

There are a bunch of lovely ones on Hampstead Heath in London, like this canine one and this avian one.
posted by yankeefog at 9:34 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

In the S.F. Bay area, we have the Long Ridge preserve, featuring the Wallace Stegner stone bench. Or you can submit a request for a commemorative bench.
posted by JDC8 at 10:27 AM on June 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is great, thanks for posting. My city doesn't turn up and honestly I have no idea if there are any, but now I'll be on the qui vive.
posted by chavenet at 10:32 AM on June 23, 2023

At first I thought this would be a touching tribute to Michael Harris from the show "Newhart".
posted by amtho at 10:43 AM on June 23, 2023

I wonder what the penalty for installing a bench without permission is?

I don't know, but if you buy a one of those big wood picnic bench-table combos and drop it somewhere it usually just stays there, especially if you lock it to some concrete blocks or pilings. I've seen this happen a few times.
posted by loquacious at 10:44 AM on June 23, 2023

In Melbourne, AUS in 2008 my companions and I found a bench with a plaque while drinking in a park dedicated to Helen Beveridge. It was a recurring joke for the rest of the visit.
posted by bendy at 3:52 PM on June 23, 2023

Thank you for sharing this, avapoet.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to add a bench on Open Benches. (I am admittedly technologically challenged.) It is on Baker Beach in San Francisco, placed in memory of my dear friends' infant daughter.
posted by Scout405 at 8:18 PM on June 23, 2023 [2 favorites]