Chester County officials hold memorial honoring COVID victims
>> Over the weekend, Chester County officials honored the memory of the 747 people in the county who have lost their lives to COVID-19. Three memorial tributes were held at three County parks, marking one year since Chester County recorded its first coronavirus death.
On Saturday, County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline held a special memorial service at Springton Manor Farm in Glenmoore, where they laid wreaths to honor the 543,975 lives lost nationally, the 24,953 lives lost across the Commonwealth, and the 747 lives lost in Chester County. There, under the Springton Manor Farm great oak tree, 747 pinwheels were displayed – one for each life lost since the start of the pandemic.
“Our ceremony this morning, here under the great oak tree at Springton Manor Farm, is part of a weekend of countywide tributes to the people who we have lost over the past year,” Moskowitz said. “Our family, our friends, our neighbors, those who we worked with, and members of our community. We miss them.”
In addition to Springton Manor Farm, pinwheel displays have been set up at Warwick Park in Pottstown, and in Nottingham Park, in Nottingham. All three memorial sites have been created as a temporary display, and the County will plan a permanent memorial to all lives lost to COVID-19 at a later date.
Chester County’s COVID-19 memorials will be open to the public during normal county park hours of 8 a.m. to sunset.
The county has also created a web page dedicated to honoring the memory of those who died of COVID-19, encouraging residents to leave messages, memories and names of family members, friends or colleagues who they have lost.