Crime victims remembered in ceremony at memorial garden
There are almost 200 stones in the Washington County Crime Victims Memorial Garden behind the county courthouse, each one commemorating someone whose life ended prematurely as a result of crime.
New stones were added and all the victims were remembered Saturday afternoon in an annual event tied to the National Day of Remembrance for crime victims on Sept. 25.
“Each family’s story has brought us together as one family,” said Pam Tarr. Her son, Thomas Tarr Jr., was murdered in North Franklin Township in 2006. The garden was dedicated two years after her son’s death.
Washington Mayor JoJo Burgess explained that when one person is a victim of violent crime, “multiple lives are affected.”
He added, “We’re here to help you get over the loss of your loved ones. Even if the crime happened years ago, they never leave us.”
A letter by Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh was distributed to those attending. In it, he wrote that each name read aloud at the ceremony “represents an individual life; young babies whose futures were stolen, children and teens with hopes and dreams that will never come to be, adults in the prime of their lives who never had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labors, and the elderly who waited for the golden years that would now be cut short. None of these victims chose to die.”
The names of all the crime victims who are memorialized in the garden were named during the ceremony, and family members who were present were given a white rose.