Winsted vigil pays tribute to Newtown victims

WINSTED — More than 200 Winsted residents and friends attended a vigil Tuesday, Dec. 18, in East End Park to honor victims of the tragic shooting Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.Organized by students from The Gilbert School, the gathering featured remarks by Mayor Maryann Welcome, along with student presentations, including the display and release of 26 balloons in honor of 20 first-graders and six adult women who were killed by a lone gunman, who also committed suicide and earlier killed his mother.The mood was somber as the park filled with residents mourning those who died in the shooting.Gilbert sophomore Julie Vincent, 15, co-organized the vigil along with senior class president Emily Riess, 17.“I still can’t begin to fathom what has happened,” Vincent said before the ceremony. “It still has not even set in my mind. I am still in awe, and if I could do anything I would wish that it would have never happened.”Welcome, who is also a Gilbert teacher, thanked residents for coming together as a community. “We come together to mourn the loss of 20 innocents and their brave teachers,” she said. “We also come together to celebrate their lives so that they have not perished in vain. We come together to pay tribute to the Newtown community members whose lives have forever been changed. We, the Winchester community, will keep them all in our thoughts and prayers.”Welcome said “ordinary words cannot describe” last week’s tragedy, which has “given us a heightened sense of our own vulnerability.” She said students organized the vigil to bring hope to the community.“They want us all to remember that there still is hope in this world, there is still compassion and most of all there is still love in this fragile world,” she said. While he did not speak at the vigil, recently elected 63rd District House Rep. Jay Case (R-63) was in attendance.“This is a very trying time for the state,” Case said. “It is nice to see that Gilbert has pulled together to organize this. It is very hard for all of us to get through the pain.”Riess recounted to the audience how she and her other classmates found out about the tragedy.“At 1:30 p.m. on Friday, the Gilbert student body was called to the auditorium,” Riess said. “Our principal Alan Strauss told everyone the news. Before he finished his words, devastation took over the crowd. We are here tonight to give condolences from the students’ perspective.”Riess recited lyrics from Mariah Carey’s song “Hero” and told audience members what they mean to her.“The definition of a hero varies wherever you go,” she said. “My definition of a hero is someone who is brave, smart, courageous and simply one who gives their all for all they love. Heroes are not just military personnel and respected town authorities. Heroes are the 26 angels Heaven gained who lost their lives in this tragedy. Those students who took bullets for other students and lied about the whereabouts of other students, they are the heroes. The various other staff members hiding their students in cupboards and reading sweet stories to them, those are heroes.”Other students read poems that they had written about the tragedy.On East End Park’s Rotary stage, 26 students held white balloons, one for each victim.Toward the end of the vigil, each student came up to the microphone to read a victim’s name, light a candle and release a balloon. As 26 students held lit candles on stage, audience members also lit candles to remember the victims.“This tragic event has shocked our nation and has hit everyone in the state so hard,” Riess said. “Times like these not only bring us all together, but make us reflect on our own lives. Sometimes we lose sight of just how short and precious life actually is.”Following the vigil, students and community member placed their candles together behind the park stage and said a prayer for Newtown, its victims and families.