KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Valerie Benner hangs photos of murder victims at the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims at Brandon Park on Friday.

In a somber ceremony marking the remembrance of those taken too soon, at least 60 photographs showing the faces of homicide victims were displayed on a floating memorial board and a painting of a tree at Brandon Park Friday night.

It was an evening to remember and part of the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

These homicide victims were an example of the sheer number of individuals in the city and region who were killed.

“Jennifer was the light of my life, my friend and sidekick until Scott took her away,” said the sister of a murdered woman shot and killed by her husband Sept. 30, 1997.

The sibling of the deceased woman said finding support through Angel Families Unite was her saving grace.

When she connected with others who could share her pain, she said she learned to forgive her sister’s killer, and be at peace.

“Jennifer’s memory lives on,” she said, looking into a crowd of about 50 individuals, many of them families whose loved ones were taken away in homicides.

“We struggle to find hope in the evil that was done,” said Bridget lrwin, a victims’ advocate with Angel Families Unite counseling team.

lrwin, choked up, holding onto a tissue and spoke briefly about her own experience.

Her father was killed on Jan. 3, 2002, because of a “poorly executed maneuver by a police officer,” she said.

Expressing how the days after left her begging for help and assistance from law enforcement and others, she said she became scared, lonely and angry.

Eventually, however, her testimonial noted, that she joined with others and now help them to find a united force to get assist them in the daily struggle.

She said these individuals chose “healing over hurting.” And many of these renewed spirits were sitting on the park benches, and preparing to launch balloons in memory of the lost.

The purpose of the event was to focus on the impact of murder on families, and communities, and ways to support and serve survivors.

Besides a heartfelt prayer for those attending, it was an interactive event, allowing the participants to paint a tree of uncolored leaves with the names of the murdered men and women on them. Then, loved ones walked up, dipped their finger in paint and put a color on the names, bringing the tree to life with colors.

One by one youngsters, grandparents, moms and dads and sisters and brothers walked up to paint a leaf on the tree.

Angel Families United has grown in its outreach and extended its service for those in the region.

It was a nearly perfect clear night to remember those lives claimed by violence.

In 2007, Congress designated Sept. 25 as the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

Its foundation was started by a couple from Cincinnati, Ohio, who formed Parents of Murdered Children following the 1978 murder of their 19-year-old, Lisa, while she was studying in Germany.

The annual day of remembrance is on the day Lisa was killed.

It remains the annual day of observance. The annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims gives all the opportunity to remember those lost to homicide, and to honor their memories.