Stone Ceremony held at Bruceton Mills to honor victims of homicide
PRESTON COUNTY, W.Va (WDTV) - September 25th marks the annual Day of Remembrance for murder victims.
This year, Preston County hosted a Stone Ceremony in recognition of those who were lost to homicide.
On Monday, families were asked to take a stone and then toss it into the water when their victims name was read, allowing families to remember those lost to homicide and honor their memories.
“It means a lot that something so small, as this event, can mean so much to people because we are honoring their loved one.”
Stacy Greasers has organized a National Day of Remembrance for murder victims for nine years now in Preston County.
This year, she found a unique way to allow families to remember those lost to homicide and honor their memories.
“Try to incorporate something, for the ones that do attend, that they can be apart of it as well. So this year we’re doing a stone ceremony, where everyone will grab a stone and throw it into the water as their names are announced by the pastor.” said Greaser.
Reading those names was something Pastor Tim Edin says he was honored to be apart of.
He hopes he can be a help to the families who lost someone to homicide.
“I really feel like I’m honored and overwhelmed to be here with them. They all share that in common and I’m happy to be a guest or hopefully apart of the healing process.”
Those in attendance of this event all share a similar pain and suffering.
Being able to all throw stones and get to know one another is something Pastor Edin says will help the healing process, knowing they aren’t alone.
“The human suffering is something I want to be a positive help in and not that it will make the pain or loss go away, but maybe even for the people who are here for themselves, just the sheer numbers of folks that don’t know each other. I’m sure that they are able to be and encouragement to one another, that none of us are really alone in this thing,” said Pastor Edin.
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