‘Comforting to be here’
Family, friends gather at International Children’s Memorial Place for annual brick-laying ceremony held to remember and honour 116 lost loved ones
Eyes welled under darkening clouds as 116 tributes were laid on the Path of Remembrance in front of more than 100 onlookers.
“You can feel their presence here,” reflected Joyce O’Connor, who came with her family to pay homage to a lost loved one during the annual brick-laying ceremony at the Children’s Memorial Place (ICMP), Sunday afternoon.
O’Connor knows all too well the unbearable sting of the death of someone close.
“We started paying tribute 12 years ago when my nephew, Matthew McIsaac, was killed in a car accident on Aug. 23. He was just 14 years old,” she said. “We planted a tree and placed a brick in memory of him.”
There are many of her loved ones memorialized on the Path of Remembrance, as well as the Ever-living Forest.
“My daughter, Nicole Robertson, passed away from cancer at the age of 34,” she said. “It will be five years since her death in October. My husband was there to give me support and help me get through, but then he died of cancer. It will be two years on Sept. 22, since he passed.”
Her relatives were among the 52 families that purchased a personalized brick intended to forever grace the Path of Remembrance.
The brick was laid in memory of O’Connor’s brother-in-law, Donnie Adams. His grandson, Donovan Chaisson, is also there – he died at birth.
O’Connor offered sage words of advice: “Offer them a hug and let them know you are there for them, if they need you.”
The ICMP has been holding these ceremonies for over a decade.
Maitland MacIsaac, president of the ICMP, addressed the silent sombre crowd.
“They live in other ways,” he said, before putting the unimaginable loss into perspective while describing the death of his son to cancer.
“Remember that person, who
is also a part of you,” he said. “The ICMP is one way to do that.”
The blossoming 12-acre site offers a sanctuary where people can rest and reflect, as well as find a sense of community.
Walking through the Everliving Forest, O’Connor points out the smiling photos of her family members gone – but
never forgotten – under the shadows of the trees.
She pauses at a maple tree. Under its stretching branches is a black and white photo of a beautiful smiling woman.
“That’s my daughter,” she pointed.
Trees are all planted in close proximity for her departed
family members.
“I come twice a year for the (ICMP) ceremonies, plus I come to visit other times during the year,” she said.
“It’s comforting to be here. And I can very much feel their presence when I’m here.”
More information on the ICMP is available at www.icmplace.ca
“They live in other ways. Remember that person, who is also a part of you. The ICMP is one way to do that.” Maitland McIsaac