Twelve candles burned for 12 Ohio State students yesterday. Even with the threat of rain, the flames remained burning.
“We came out here at 9 a.m.,” said Brian Tittl, a minister at the Summit United Methodist church. “It’s a visual reminder of their lives.”
Tittl is a member of the University Interfaith Association, a religious-based faith group that organized the memorial service to honor the lives of every OSU student that passed away during the 2002-2003 academic school year.
“This is a time for students who knew them to come by and pay their last respects,” Tittl said.
Every year, for the last three years, Tittl and other ministers of the Campus Ministers Association and the Student Advocacy Center arrange the event during finals week of spring quarter.
David Hill, the Lutheran campus minister and member of the association, said the purpose is to give students and faculty members a chance grieve.
“It’s still in its infancy,” said Karen Fisher, director of the Student Advocacy Center.
The names of the victims, their date of death and academic major were set up under a white tent on the main Oval from 9 a.m. to 6:45 p.m.
From there, a procession moved, one-by-one, to the Stecker Lounge in the Union, the rain-site for the actual memorial service which was supposed to take place in the Browning Amphitheater. As they passed scattered students on the street, they carried two candles in each hand and a banner that read “We Remember” and listed the names of the deceased.
By the time they made it to the lounge, most of the candles had melted, but their flames continued to burn.
About 30 students, faculty members and friends gathered for the hour-long memorial which included scripture readings and verses of remembrance.
One after the other, ministers of many faiths proceeded to the podium and read prayer scriptures in honor of the students’ lives.
“Those who die as having been accepted by God are the brave ones; their death is their right,” said Tarunjit Singh Butalia, advisor for the OSU Sikh Student Association.
“What I read was a prayer of remembrance that’s typically sung at memorial services in the Sikh faith,” he said. “Our lives are transient. We must value it.”
Throughout the ceremony, audience members were encouraged to join in intercessory prayers. Still, many opted to say their own, silent prayers.
Meghan Burke, a senior in somatic education, lost her cousin – Ohio University student Andrea Dennis – to the April 13 fire on 17th Avenue.
“I’ve already swallowed the big cookie. These are just the cookie crumbs”, she said.
Burke, who went to a memorial service for Alan Schlessman and Kyle Raulin, the two OSU students who also died in the blaze, said there were more than 500 people at that memorial service.
Bill Hall, vice president for Student Affairs, said the deceased were not only students – they were family.
“We hope this will be a continuing tradition at Ohio State that helps bring closure for students, staff and faculty members,” he said.
