Remembrance pays tribute to victims, survivors, first responders | Inside an evening of reflection
ALLEN — Things look much different in Allen than a year ago.
The city paid tribute to the victims, survivors, and first responders with a remembrance ceremony Monday night. Surrounded by candlelight, the Allen Philharmonic played the original composition "In Lumine," composed by SMU music professor Lane Harder.
The eight solos were meant to illuminate the lives of the eight people lost a year ago.
"May the light and remembrance of gratitude shine brightly," said Rev. Mary Beth Hardesty-Crouch of the First United Methodist Church of Allen. "And may we find comfort in the knowledge that while gone from our sight those we mourn remain forever in our hearts."
The somber public program in a darkened event center was almost entirely music and silent moments for reflection.
That's because sometimes, Allen Mayor Baine Brooks told the few hundred people there, there are simply no words to say.
"So we can lean on each other," Brooks said. "So we can love on each other, and so we can experience the healing that happens when we do hard things together instead of doing them alone"