Student Affairs held its second Remembrance Ceremony on Friday for UB students who have passed away in the last year. Though there was solemn music and floral arrangements, the ceremony's opening allowed family and friends to talk, share stories, and gather to warmly remember the best about their loved ones.
Though the talk was light, the mood changed when the ceremony began, becoming much more respectful to those students the community lost: Dennis Brown, Kabuki Caeser, Won Joo Lee, James Lovette, Robert Valenti and Scott Wiktorski.
Some dried their eyes as Dennis Black, vice president for Student Affairs, Liz Lidano, director of Judicial Affairs, and Father Patrick Keleher of Campus Ministries spoke at the Student Union ceremony.
Black was the first to speak and recalled a story about a mother and her missing son at a concert hall. He then used this analogy in other smaller speeches to bring the story full circle and convey the event's message.
"I hope we can wrap our arms around their memories and keep their spirits alive. Today, in kindness, understanding, and support, we gather here to encourage each other...and to lift them up as they lifted up our lives," Black said.
Keleher added a religious insight to the event, citing the use of prayer and memory to remember those who are gone and encouraging the families to come and say a word or two about their lost loved ones, although Kabuki Caeser's father and parish members were the only ones who felt they had the strength to come forward and speak.
"We're very much connected and these people are very much alive and I know they are alive to their families. They were members of the UB family, and that's something larger," Keleher said.
A representative from most of the families came and had a candle lit in honor of those who have died. Staff members held two students' candles, as their families could not attend. There was then a moment of silence before the ceremony was taken outside to the promenade where families sat as Black talked about the importance of the wall of engraved bricks outside the Student Union and having a permanent remembrance of those gone.
"They remain sparks that show us the right direction on dark days," Black said. "Their names and their spirits will continue to be part of our community."
Families took pictures of the bricks with the students' names engraved on them. A small reception was held in the Student Union after the ceremony where families could gather to talk.
