It’s been two years since the horrible car crash that claimed the lives of five vibrant local teenagers.
It’s a loss that continues to reverberate for all of us here and one that their families, friends and peers feel acutely every single day. The impact of their lives and the loss continues to ripple through the fabric of our community in so many ways.
No one can speak to how someone else grieves, yet we know, these losses are unspeakably deep and painfully permanent. No one can know what will help people dealing with such profound loss, beyond listening, love and hugs.
We can hope though. We can hope that those mourning can take some comfort from how beloved those five young adults were and how engaged in and well regarded they were in their school community and their community overall.
We can hope that the fact that the wheels of justice are turning for the man charged with five counts of second degree murder in the accident, albeit turning slowly, offers perspective, and what little sense of justice can be found from an event as horrific as this.
We can hope that the beautiful pavilion and stone bench at Harwood memorializing these young lives might bring some comfort. We can hope that the new pavilion and walking path with engraved benches at the Mad River Park Rec Fields honoring the five lost teenagers soothes the pain to a degree.
Perhaps the fact that so many hundreds of kids are training and playing in the legacy of these five student athletes can provide a balm of sorts for those mourning.
It’s sadly horrible that five teenagers whose lives ended due to an intentional wrong-way driver on the highway in October 2016, should have to have legacies – and yet these five local kids have legacies. Their friends and families have worked hard to create context and honor their lost children, siblings, friends, grandchildren and cousins. We honor that.
Eli Brookens, 16; Janie Cozzi, 15; Liam Hale, 16; Mary Harris,16; and Cyrus Zschau, 16.
Your light continues to shine.
