NORTH ADAMS — Connie Lavigne's voice broke as she spoke of her daughter, the pain still fresh even after 17 years. "I miss her so much."
Cynthia Ann Palumbo was only 24 when she died, just a week before her brothers opened their Subway restaurant. She was supposed to be part of the family business, said her brother Frank Bird. "It was crushing, devastating," said his wife, Terry Bird.
Her picture hung in a place of honor in the eatery, "so she'd always be here," said Frank Bird. When times were tough, "I'd look at her and know that things would get better."
Now her name is engraved in granite, memorialized along with other daughters and sons who passed too soon from their parents. They line a pathway leading to a bronze angel, the centerpiece of a children's memorial park set on a wide lawn with breathtaking views of the mountains.
Parents and siblings, friends and residents, gathered Sunday afternoon at Southview Cemetery to dedicate the acre plot, the culmination of the dream of Donna Morgan.
Morgan, who had lost her own daughter a dozen years ago, had spearheaded a campaign over the past two years that had brought groups, individuals and businesses together to create a place to remember their lost children.
"This would have taken a lot more time if didn't have so many people helping out," she said. The city provided the plot and the granite pedestal from Notre Dame Church for the angel. City
crews pitched in along with volunteers ranging from schoolteachers to landscape artists to concrete pourers to Elks to schoolchildren holding bake sales.
"People really put themselves out to do as much as they could," said Lea Morgan, a friend of Donna Morgan's.
Donna Morgan read off the names of those memorialized, among them Jocelyn LeClair, who died of spinal meningitis in 2001 at age 15; young Caleb Jacobbe, who died from cancer in 2006; Julie Burdick-Shade, a victim of domestic assault who was only 22 at her death two weeks ago.
Morgan's brother Robert Bona thought the quiet park would help
bring grieving people out of their shells. "I think it will do wonders for some people."
The park is the latest in a growing number of so-called "Angel of Hope" parks being created across the country. They are inspired by the book "The Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans, who commissioned the first angel (with the face of his daughter) for a park in Salt Lake City.
Lisa Johnson, angel representative for Christmas Box International, attended the ceremony along with Brett and Tracy Pomeroy of Blackstone, whom she described as the "gold medalists" in park creation. It had taken the Pomeroys 10 months from start to finish to create an angel park in Uxbridge, inspired by their daughter Sadie Grace Pomeroy. They had dedicated their park on Saturday and wanted to attend the North Adams dedication.
On Sunday, people walked the three pathways leading to the bronze angel at the park's hub, searching for the word "hope" enfolded in its wings and reading the names lining one of the pathways. Most of the granite pavers are blank, waiting for names to be engraved in the coming years.
Morgan said she breathed a sigh of relief that the dream had become a reality, if not exactly completed. More work is needed and, of course, the maintenance will be ongoing.
"I'll be doing this for the rest of my life," said Morgan.
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In Holy Rood Cemetery, Long Island, there is a children's burial area -- all young children. The graves are decorated with plush toys, dolls, sailboats, etc. It's heartbreaking just to see them. God help the people who loved those innocents and those buried at Southlawn.
