MICHELLE MANN
“We stand together as a community of hope and healing,” said Wiregrass Angel House Executive Director Shelly Linderman welcoming those attending the annual National Remembrance Day Ceremony and Candlelight Vigil at the WAH Memorial Garden on North Bell Street in Dothan Thursday.
“We thank you survivors here today,” Linderman said. “You are the reason for this garden, this organization and this day of remembrance.
“I want you to look around you and when you feel you are alone, you are not,” Linderman told the families, friends and supporters of the victims of violent crimes in the Wiregrass. “We stand together as a community of hope and healing.”
“This is what teamwork looks like,” said Wiregrass Angel House Board President Barbara Ward as she surveyed the crowd gathered in the WAH Memorial Garden.
Teamwork at its best, agreed Linderman, thanking the Dothan Police Department, Houston County Sheriff’s Office, the Dale County Sheriff’s Office and Alabama Law Enforcement Agency for erecting display of the 459 white crosses, each bearing a purple ribbon and the name and photo of a Wiregrass area crime victim, on display in front of the Wiregrass Angel House.
WAH Counselor Dr. Robert “Bo” Grice was keynote speaker at the event that included a ballon release, the lighting of memorial candles, and the roll call of the victim’s names
“We cannot help the birds that fly over our head, but we can prevent them from building a nest on it,” Grice told the crowd.
“Every day we are bombarded with thousands of thoughts flying, like birds, through our heads.
“I know the journey through grief is hard. Especially when you were forced on this journey through the actions of someone else,” he said. “Let me encourage you tonight with this: I know you want justice, and I know the wheels of justice turn slow. But take control of your thoughts because this is going to be an important part of your healing.
“What happened is never going to be ‘all right,'” Grice told the survivors. “But you can live again, you can love again.”