US may still bare scars of Columbine 25 later – but victims memorial is withering away
Twenty-five years have passed since the Columbine High School shooting that took 13 lives, and still, victims’ families and many in Colorado, the US and world struggle to grapple with the tragedy.
Saturday marks the quarter-century anniversary of what is widely considered the first major mass shooting at an American school. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers opened fire at the school in Littleton, killing a dozen students and a teacher before taking their own lives.
The deadly massacre forever changed the lives of the survivors, the victims’ loved ones, the community and the issue of gun violence in the country. The two gunmen inspired other twisted individuals to carry out similar massacres, and 25years later, America has yet to find a way to prevent more school shootings from breaking out.
For many victims’ families, the closest form of closure and finding comfort has been to spend time at the Columbine Memorial, which has a Ring of Remembrance with text honoring each loved one.
Among them is Rick Townsend, who visits the memorial to connect with his daughter, Lauren. Each of the victims’ families were asked to share personal text to be engraved on the ring to reflect and remember their loved one. The ring encircles a ‘Never Forgotten’ ribbon at the center.
Part of Lauren’s words engraved in stone read: ‘It usually takes a huge trauma to get people to realize what is important and I feel that it is what is going to happen to wake up everyone to get in touch with their spiritual side.’
Her father told KMGH earlier this week: ‘There’s this one and some other ones that, it’s like they knew something, something was going to happen.’
The Ring of Remembrance, surrounded by a Wall of Healing with quotes from family members, students, teachers and first responders, opened in September 2007.
Built at almost a stone’s throw from the campus, the memorial has filled a void in the community that for years gathered at Clement Park to commemorate the victims.
It took the Columbine Memorial Committee seven years to complete the memorial and despite criticism on how long it took, former Columbine High School Principal Frank DeAngelis told the TV station, ‘I’m so glad that we (waited) because it is beautiful’.
The memorial of the victims is designed to forever honor the victims: Lauren Townsend, 18; Rachel Joy Scott, 17; Daniel Rohrbough, 15; Kyle Velasquez, 16; Steven Curnow, 14; Cassie Bernall, 17; John Tomlin, 17; Kelly Fleming, 16; Daniel Mauser, 15; Corey DePooter, 17; Matt Kechter, 16; Isaiah Shoels, 18; and Dave Sanders, 47;
But through 17 years, the memorial has weathered wear and tear. Some of the words on the Ring of Remembrance and Wall of Healing are fading from year after year of sun and snow.
‘The lettering is coming out,’ Townsend said.
‘Over time to freezing and thawing and light exposures, some of that starts coming out. And it becomes more hard to read or difficult to read the lettering on the plaques.’
The Columbine Memorial Foundation has been fixing the damage, but relies solely on private donations. Beside keeping the words alive, the memorial needs a new lighting system.
It currently has dated halogen-style lights that short out when water seeps in, and the foundation seeks to replace ground lights with taller poles that will make the tributes easier to read.
‘We need to get that kind of (private) money or in kind donations from contractors to continue that and go out 25 years or even further,’ Townsend said.
Pointing to the ribbon, he continued: ‘It says “Never Forgotten”.
‘And we’ve started an endowment fund and hopefully we can build that out enough into the future, that will help maintain the memorial.’
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