Chattanooga holds first “Season to Remember” Monday night
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — Chattanooga hosted its first annual Season to Remember on Monday night. Family and friends of those who passed away by homicide met at the Hamilton County Courthouse. There, they placed an ornament on a Christmas tree to honor the ones they lost.
District Attorney Coty Wamp, Commissioner Greg Beck and Mothers of Murdered Sons (MOMS) partnered together to make this event happen.
“We were talking and tried to figure out how we could bring attention to what we were going through, being survivors of victims,” said Shannon Westmoreland, with the MOMS. “Two years ago, we started working together on a project and that’s when we became organized. We have five mothers who originally started this, and from that five, this is what we’ve grown to.”
This night was about showing support for each other.
“Everybody needs to understand when we lose our children, it doesn’t stop there. That’s a loss that we carry on forever,” Westmoreland continued. “We want to let everyone know that you have support, because we are going through the same thing.”
Though your loved one might be gone, they are not forgotten.
“We know these victims. We know their names. We will fight for them. But more importantly, their friends, their family members are here tonight,” said District Attorney Coty Wamp. “As you watch people go up to the tree to hang that ornament, you could see tears. You could hear tears. Some of these individuals have been gone for many years, but the point is, it doesn’t matter to their family members. It seems fresh every single day, and you could see that here tonight.”
The ornaments will remain on the tree for this holiday season.
“Those names are on those ornaments, and their year of birth and their year of death is on those ornaments,” Wamp explained. “I hope people will stop by and see the names and take a moment of silence to honor all of the victims on that tree.”
Over 60 different people were honored Monday night.
A new memorial park was unveiled as well. It will give families of victims a place to honor their loved ones.
