NIU announces Feb. 14 Memorial Garden
Northern Illinois University announced plans Saturday for a permanent memorial to the victims of the shooting that claimed the lives of five students one year ago.
The university will build a Memorial Garden featuring five panels of cardinal red granite that represent the five victims of the Feb. 14, 2008 shooting: Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota; Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Dan Parmenter, 20, of Westchester. The stones will be installed along a curved walkway set amid 20 dawn redwood, white oak and evergreen trees.
Visitors will be able to sit on benches and reflect on the university rallying cry of "Forward, Together Forward" inscribed in the stones. The university also has plans for a sculpture that will be installed in the garden.
The garden will be built on a site just east of Cole Hall, the site of the shootings. The university planned to lay memorial wreaths on the future garden site Saturday afternoon.
The design for the memorial borrows from the powerful simplicity of Virginia Tech's memorial to the victims of the 2007 shootings that left 32 dead on the Blacksburg, Va. campus. The Virginia Tech memorial, which features 32 "Hokie stones" arranged in a semicircle, was cited as an inspiration during the planning process for the NIU memorial that began last spring.
"This will forever be a special place of peace and reflection on our campus," NIU President John Peters said in a statement. "Memorial Garden will honor the memories of the five students we lost that day, while at the same time embracing the resolute Huskie spirit characterized by 'Forward, Together Forward.'"
The $150,000 memorial will be completely funded by private sources, including donations from the DeKalb and Sycamore chambers of commerce, which combined with other contributions have raised almost $120,000 for the memorial.
A 40-member committee representing all segments of the NIU community selected the Memorial Garden design from more than 200 suggestions given to the university after the shootings.