KNOX — John Herholz is making a Christian cross to honor Christopher Vincent Davis of Altamont.

Davis died in a car crash in Knox on Sept. 13. He was 22.

“I darn near raised him since he was 8 years old,” said Herholz, a carpenter who lives in Berne.

He will plant the cross at noon on Sunday at the place where Davis died, near the intersection of Beebe Road and the Knox-Gallupville Road.

“We’ll have a gathering. All are welcome,” said Herholz who added he would be checking with the landowner to be sure the memorial was acceptable.

The Davis family will be at Sunday’s gathering, Herholz said. Davis’s mother, Deborah Davis, is also having a cross made for the memorial, he said.

Herholz is going to paint the cross he makes of pressure-treated lumber  — three feet tall and a-foot-and-a-half wide — in orange and black and white.

“He was a landscaper and always wore an orange shirt to work,” said Herholz.  “I’ve got to get the orange in.”

Herholz knows what he will write on the cross: The crossbar will say “RIP Chris” and the post will say “To our beloved lost.”

“We’ll just have a prayer for him,” Herholz said of the Sept. 30 gathering. “So everybody can be at peace.”

“He was an upstanding young gentlemen,” said Herholz. “He worked hard every day. He focused on his family and his girlfriend.” His girlfriend, Taylor Vigay, who survived the crash, was described by the Davis family in his obituary as “the love of his life.”

“Chris worked hard, loved harder, and never hesitated to help a person in need,” his family wrote in his obituary. “Chris’s smile was as contagious as his laugh, and his vibrant personality lit up every room he entered.”

Herholz added these words, addressed to Davis, “You will always be with us. You’re in our hearts. You’re in our minds. And you will always be in our prayers.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer