Skateboarders pay touching tribute to dead friend by building him a unique headstone
It’s a skate-way to heaven.
Skateboarders in Mexico honored their deceased buddy’s wishes by making his headstone a quarter-pipe ramp so mourners could skate with him instead of praying.
A viral YouTube video, posted by Storyful, shows a visitor performing a tail grind on the ramp-inspired gravemarker, which is located in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
They had erected the tombstone in honor of Rafael “Rafa” Castillo, a skater and surfer who died of pancreatic cancer in 2016 at the age of 43.
Castillo had been a fixture on the local skate scene, competing in prominent tournaments throughout the 1990s and beyond, designing skate ramps and dedicating his life to promoting the sport throughout the region, local media reported.
Before he died, the skater — who had worked as a drywaller — unveiled designs for the quarter-pipe gravestone.
“The ramp was in memory of the one that was in the park for many years,” said Jesús Manuel Herrera Rodríguez, 53, who had known the deceased since high school. “So, instead of going to pray to him, he wanted you to skate with him.”
After getting the necessary approvals from local officials, Castillo’s buddies got to work crafting the gravestone to his specifications.
Rodríguez said they used sand from the various places where Castillo lived and adorned the ramp with a skateboard affixed to a cross — a tribute to the fact that he always put a crucifix on his board.
They also engraved the stone with the phrase “you’re OK,” something Castillo would say to soothe his pals during trying times.
The crew finally finished the project in 2023, allowing people to honor Castillo’s legacy by skating on his grave.
Rodríguez found it a fitting tribute to Castillo, who he said made connections with skaters from all over Mexico.
Rodríguez reflected on how he first introduced his friend to skating in 1986.
“Imagine it’s like in the karate movie … I arrived at the cooperative, some cholitos (punks) were beating him up and I arrived,” the pal described. “I was going to defend him.
“And from there, he didn’t let go.”
The introduction was an instrumental one.
“On one occasion, at an afternoon party in high school, we were all skating except him. So we didn’t want to wait for him,” Rodríguez explained. “‘Well, you’re going to learn to skate here,’ we told him. And from then on, he never got off the skateboard.”
Rodríguez remembered his friend as a “friendly” and “sociable” person who was “very focused” if something got into his head.
One of his dreams was for skateboarding to be accessible to children throughout Southern Baja California, according to Dulce Falcón, a childhood friend and president of the Baja California Sur Extreme Skaters Association, which was established to honor the late skater’s wishes.
“[Castillo], was a tireless promoter of this sport, so that all children could have a skateboard within their reach,” Falcón said.
