15th Remember Walk held at Union University
JACKSON, Tenn. – An event designed to support families who have lost loved ones to homicide took place Monday evening.
The Remember Me Commemorative Walk is for people who have lost a loved one, typically through homicide or suicide.
Held annually at Union University, this event enables families to honor those they have lost and for the community to support them.
“It’s a very humbling event to get to be here and witness this and get to see and meet so many people and just see how much this means to them and just being able to remember that those they’ve lost are not forgotten, and we’re here for them and we love them and we want to honor them,” said Sydney Hunter, a graduate student.
A new element added to this event was families were allowed to announce the names of their loved ones lost to violence. This is the 15th year Union University has hosted this event.
“It would’ve been the 16th, but COVID kind of shut down that one year so. It’s been going on for 16 years, but this is the 15th one,” Hunter said.
Norma Ellington, a mother who lost her son to violence back in 2009, created a quilt to remember and honor those who have gone through similar circumstances in West Tennessee.
“I would say it’s probably over about 50. It’s actually two quilts. The first quilt got so large and I had to start another one so that’s the backside of the quilt. So it’s actually two quilts that’s hanging right now. And the rate that we’re going, next year, it will probably be a third quilt. Unfortunately, it is,” Ellington said.
The families received a teddy bear before beginning their walk and ended the remembrance walk with balloons to release while chanting their loved ones names one last time.
This event is typically held in October every year. We estimate that about 100 people attended Monday evening.
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