Newtown families on their lives and mission, one year later
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- On Saturday, flags in Connecticut will fly at half staff to honor the 20 first-graders and six adults gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.
As the anniversary approached, CBS News spoke to Nicole Hockley, the mother of 6-year-old Dylan, Nelba Marquez Green, mother of 6-year-old Ana, and Bill Sherlach, husband of school psychologist Mary Sherlach, about their lives without their loved ones.
ELAINE QUIJANO: At this point, how is everyone doing?
HOCKLEY: Jake has his good days and his bad days, just like my husband and I do. But he is loved and he is supported. He misses his little brother terribly. When he's having a bad day, I just focus on the sort of person he's going to be when he grows up, or that I hope so many children in our community become, in terms of their strengths and resiliency from having experienced the worst that can happen.
BILL
SHERLACH: I gotta tell you something, this group of people, this club that we
have locally, what an incred-- I mean I draw so much strength from these
people. I mean, I knew my wife for 36 years and three days. These people lost
6- and 7-year-olds. I can't -- can't imagine what they go through. Just the strength
is just amazing. And that -- that helps me.
SHERLACH: Oh, they have no idea how much. I pray for them every night.
NELBA
MARQUEZ GREENE: Nobody wants to be a part of this club, and unfortunately this --
this club is growing. But nobody wants to be Nancy Lanza, either. And I've
received hundreds of letters from parents saying, "I need help for my
child. How do I get it? Where do I turn?" I know that there are parents
out there who want help and just haven’t been able to get it. So I think part
of our mission now is to bring awareness. I would like to see a nation where
parents who want help for their kids can get it, without fearing a stigma or
repercussions, either at school or in the community, but just really, just from an
honest place, get the help that they need for their kids, because there are so many
who don’t.
Newtown officials say there will be no formal ceremony marking the anniversary Saturday. At 9:30 a.m., about the time the shooting began, Connecticut's governor has called for bells to toll statewide, 26 times, for each of the Sandy Hook victims.
