Memorial

On Monday I went up to Prescott with my Uncle Forrest and his family. We went up to attend the unveiling of a memorial for homicide victims in Yavapi county. They had chosen my Aunt Misty to be part of the memorial. This is a description of the project.

The Homicide Victim Remembrance Display, created in 2008, is a collaborative effort of the Yavapai County (Arizona) Attorney’s Office Victim Services Division and Arizona Department of Corrections Restorative Justice Program. The goal of the display is threefold:

ADVOCACY—ensuring that a victim has a voice even after their life is taken

REMEMBRANCE—honoring the memory of those who have died at the hands of another

AWARENESS—realizing the extent of violence and homicide within Yavapai County

The display includes an array of life sized silhouettes, each representing a person who died in Yavapai County as a result of another’s wrong doing. Each figure is handmade by prison inmates from materials donated through the Restorative Justice Program. Family members of each victim provided mementos in remembrance of their loved one.

The Homicide Victim Remembrance Display is a tribute to those who can be too easily forgotten. Let their silhouettes stand as a reminder for all; to treat victims and survivors with dignity and respect, to celebrate the memory of homicide victims, and to seek justice for an unjustifiable act.

If you are local please take the time to see the display this week, April 7 to 11 at the Yavapai County building on Fair St (across from Fry’s) or next week, April 14 to 18 during Victim Rights Week at the gazebo down on the square.


This was much more emotionally draining then I had planned for. I had tried to prepare myself for this event that I knew would be difficult, packed my Kleenex, and thought that I would be ok. We drove to my Grammy's where we met my Aunt Starlene and cousins, the children of my Aunt Misty. It was there that my aunt Starlene gave me a copy of the part of the display we provided. It had a picture of Misty on it along with a poem written about her and our loss. I started reading it on the way to the memorial, I had to stop and take some deep breaths, keep reading. I did that a few times before I realized there was no way I could read it with out becoming a mess. So I set it aside to read later. We went to the county building and looked over most of the display. They were nice silhouettes of all of the victims, 10 in total. Each one had a shield on their chest with their birth and death date, a brief description of there victimization, and the sentence for the perpetrator. Then beneath that was the page contributed by the family. Even being a relative of a victim of a violent crime it is still unbelievable to me the way some of those people died. So unnecessarily, so sudden, so young! We went in to the meeting where they declared April to be Yavapi county victim awareness month (I don't think that's exactly what it was but something to that effect). They then read the names of the victims and asked the family who where there for each person to stand as there name was read. There we were in a county council meeting and the co chair stood as one of the names was read. It was interesting to look around the room at those standing. So many people! All were different in age, race, background, but we were all there united in remembrance of those we love. It was such a dramatic visual of the fact that violence know no bounds. Rich, poor, black, white, hispanic, old, young, the violent decisions of people effect so many and can strike anyone! The pain of violence is felt by many in this country! I really wish there were a greater awareness and effort to break the cycles of violence. After the council meeting was over we went back out to the lobby where the display was. I finished reading everyone. The saddest part for me was to see my cousins, who were left behind in this crime. They were left with no mother, and a father who had betrayed them. They are all older now, 13-21 but even as they get older the need and loss of there mother never lessens. It has been 10 years since the tragic day when we all lost a woman we loved dearly. You might think as time goes by the loss lessens, but I feel the opposite. The more I move through my life and do things I would love to talk to her about, or events I wish she was at the more the aware I am of my loss. I truly do miss the Aunt I loved so much!

This is a copy of the poem that we put on the silhouette is is too hard to read on the blog but if you click on it you can read it if you are interested. It is printed on there a little wierd so follow the numbers above the paragraphs to read it in the right order.



This is Misty's silhouette



This is one of all of them together