‘This is year’ to build Station fire memorial

John Howell
Posted 3/24/15

“This is going to be the year.”

Those were the words of Governor Gina Raimondo Sunday afternoon as she spoke at Warwick City Hall. It was the message many in the audience wanted to hear. It …

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‘This is year’ to build Station fire memorial

Posted

“This is going to be the year.”

Those were the words of Governor Gina Raimondo Sunday afternoon as she spoke at Warwick City Hall. It was the message many in the audience wanted to hear. It has been 12 years since The Station nightclub fire took the lives of 100 people.

Raimondo was one of three speakers at the annual memorial service where the names of the victims are read followed by 100 seconds of silence.

“As a mother, my heart goes out to you,” Raimondo said.

She acknowledged there is nothing that can be said or done to bring back those lost, “but they’re with you, so hold on to that.”

The families of the victims have also held on to the hope for a lasting memorial at the site of the nightclub in West Warwick, but little has happened in the form of developments. Since the site was obtained three years ago, it has been cleared of the numerous makeshift memorials. Those memorials have been saved and will be placed in a vault in the permanent memorial. The land has also been fenced, but that’s going to change with the first of three phases of construction starting this spring, according to Gina Russo, president of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation. Russo said the last six months has seen a group of community leaders step forward to complete the campaign to raise $2 million and move ahead with the plans. Heading the group are former Governor Donald Carcieri and his wife Suzanne who, in the hours immediately after the fire and in the weeks that followed, worked to provide services to the families of the victims and served as a consoling influence in a time of tragedy.

Russo said a feasibility study performed by Daniel Barry found the fundraising goal achievable. In addition, she reported that $500,000 in donations, pledges and building materials have been raised.

“This memorial is in an incredible place…I know the frustration,” she said of the time it has taken to get this far. “Let’s get this done. Let’s stay positive.”

Depending on weather and the success of the campaign, Russo believes the memorial could be completed by spring of 2016.

Reflecting on the fire, Mayor Scott Avedisian said cities and towns and communities came together the night of the fire but also in the days that followed. A member of the campaign leadership committee, Avedisian said the community is again coming together to ensure a fitting memorial on the site for solace and reflection.

West Warwick Town Manager Fred Presley said the fenced site as it is emanates “very negative energy.” He vowed West Warwick would do all it could to have the memorial built and to bring down those fences so that the site becomes a place of hope, promise and celebration of the lives of those who died.

The Rev. Donald Anderson of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches delivered the invocation for the meeting and said it is “good and right” that a memorial is built.

Quoting from Hebrews 12, Anderson likened the deceased to a “cloud of witnesses” looking over us individually and collectively. Anderson spoke of remembering the sadness of the event, but also of honoring the joy that the lives of the 100 brought into this world.

 

A POSITIVE REPORT: Gina Russo, a survivor of the fire and president of the Station Memorial Foundation, told those who gathered for the 12th memorial service Sunday that construction on a permanent memorial at the site would start this spring. (Warwick Beacon photos)

 

97 ANGELS: Joe Silva performed “97 Angels,” the song he composed immediately following the fire. Soon after writing the piece, three of those fighting for their lives died, bringing the death toll to 100.

 

ALL AGES: Friends and family of the victims of the Station nightclub fire on Feb. 20, 2003 gathered in solemn reflection Sunday at Warwick City Hall. The service had been initially planned closer to the anniversary date, but was postponed by a snowstorm.

 

REMEMBERING THE 100: Jody King was one of 10 who read the names of those losing their lives in the fire. Jody lost his brother, Tracy.

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