Laurie Crow would have been 54 on Dec. 27, 2011.
Instead, she became one of 47.
Only a few weeks before her birthday, she died curled up in her sleeping bag in a meadow near Going Street. Her partner, Clarence, was next to her, awake and listening as she slept through daybreak.
What he was hearing, in fact, was her body cooling in the December chill. It was Dec. 7.
The other 46 were also homeless, and all died on the streets of Portland in 2011.
Fourty-seven: Nearly 1 a week. Continue reading