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Elected officials, religious leaders, musicians and local school choirs performed and spoke at the service, which lasted for almost two hours.
“The courage of so many people in facing the reality of what they had to face, it has been incredible,” said Clive Calver, senior pastor at Walnut Hill Community Church.
The audience was full of people silently crying and holding roses being given out by volunteers at the door of the center. Red Cross volunteers went around the audience giving out tissues and small battery-operated candles.
“I drive from my home in Newtown, and as I drive down Currituck Road somebody has put up a sign and it says, “Newtown, you are not alone,”” Calver said. “To all the communities here, I thank you. We are not alone.”
The lights dimmed in the center for a slide show featuring the names and photos of the 20 children who died during the shooting, with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” playing in the background. Several people in the audience swayed their candles in the air to the music, while other embraced the people near them.
John Schlogl, a teacher at Rogers Park Middle School, spoke about Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School who died Friday, highlighting her constant smile, dedication to protecting her children, and relationship with her husband, George, who is a teacher at the middle school.
“When I first heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, my initial thoughts were, ‘It’s Dawn’s school, Dawn will not let anything happen to her children,” Schlogl said. “Protecting children is what most educators do instinctively. Protecting them in a time of great need.”
The ceremony ended after artist Scott LoBaido presented officials with a painting dedicated to the town of Newtown, and Emmy Award-winning guitarist Kevin Briody performed a song.
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