Community unites in remembrance
By DANA HERRA and CRYSTAL LINDELL - Shaw Newspapers
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| Northern Illinois University student Stephanie Hartwig and her boyfriend, Nick Kennedy, of DeKalb, take part in a candlelight vigil Saturday at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commons on the campus of NIU in DeKalb. The vigil closed the day’s activities, which honored the five students killed in the Feb. 14, 2008, campus shooting. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
Saturday was not as sad as Ryan Dillon thought it was going to be.
Dillon, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, was in Room 101 of Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University on Feb. 14, 2008, when a former NIU student walked in and opened fire. Five students were killed and 21 were injured before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Killed were Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace and Daniel Parmenter.
“I’m relieved that it’s actually been a year,” Dillon said.
The mood on the campus of NIU was one of quiet reflection Saturday as members of the university and larger community came together to mark a year since the campus shooting and remember the five students who were lost.
NIU senior Joe Hofmann said the tragedy still doesn’t seem real.
“I’ll never think of Valentine’s Day the same way,” said the marketing student, who spent part of that day tracking down his sister who had been in Cole Hall before the shooting. “It was the worst 30 minutes of my life.”
Saturday was filled with memorial events, beginning with a remembrance ceremony at the NIU Convocation Center and ending with a candlelight vigil as twilight descended on DeKalb. In between were art exhibits and concerts, as well as a wreath laying at 3 p.m. outside of Cole Hall.
Boxes of tissues were perched on tables at the Convocation Center, and more were scattered at the Holmes Student Center, where many events were held.
But while there was palpable emotion, there were more sad smiles than tears among the crowds in black and cardinal red.
“I don’t really get, like, a sad feeling,” said sophomore Kathleen Rios, a psychology major. “It’s more of the community coming together.”
Many people around campus wore red memorial T-shirts featuring a quote from NIU President John Peters, surrounded by paw prints in the shape of a heart. Jusin Oltz, the NIU junior who designed the shirt, said five of the paw prints are in honor of the five students who died. Money raised from the sale of the shirts goes toward the Forward, Together Forward Scholarship Fund and a fund to provide support and advocacy for the victims and their families.
“It’s sad. I’m a little tearful,” said Sycamore resident Janet Giesen, who works in the university’s faculty development department. “But I’m happy so many people came out.”
At least 1,000 people attended the morning memorial ceremony, and more were expected to attend other events throughout the day. In addition to university faculty, staff and students, alumni, families and members of the community came in a show of support. Gov. Pat Quinn attended the wreath-laying ceremony.
The community also showed its support off campus. State Street in Sycamore was lined with NIU flags, and a large board outside the DeKalb Municipal Building proclaimed, “DeKalb Police Remember.”
Seniors Brittany Martin and Maggie Sullivan said the past year has been busy, but even as they move forward, students are haunted by reminders of the day.
“It’s always there when you walk past the building,” Martin said. “There’s always the remembrance of what happened there and the people who lost their lives.”
The theme of healing was prominent during the ceremony.
“Though darkness came upon us, we’re thankful that after all of this we stand today in unity with a great testimony: We’re still here,” Eddie Williams, university executive vice president and chief of operations, said during the invocation. “We seek an even greater strength, an even greater resolve and spirit as we pursue our quest to assure that darkness will never conquer our light.”
In the hourlong ceremony, students from the university’s theater department read descriptions of the five fallen students. The words were submitted by the students’ families, friends and advisers, and were interspersed with quotes by such luminaries as Albert Schweitzer, Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Gehant was remembered as an overachiever who brought out the best in everyone. Mace was curious and had great empathy for those less fortunate. Dubowski was shy and generous, with great personal conviction. Parmenter was a natural leader always willing to pitch in and help. Garcia was creative and had a knack for bringing people together and settling disagreements.
The service was intended to be a time to remember those five students, President Peters said, while also keeping the resolve to move forward.
“A year ago in this very place, we vowed not to let an act of violence define us – and we have not,” he said. “We are strengthened by a renewed sense of unity and purpose.”
