A memorial service was held Thursday at Paris-Yates Chapel on the University of Mississippi’s campus to honor students, staff and faculty who have died this past academic year.
The names of the deceased were read aloud and the bells at Paris Yates Chapel were rung 23 times to honor each individual. Afterwards, the University String Quartet played the Ole Miss Alma Mater.
Friends and family attend Memorial Ceremony for the faculty, staff and students that died this school year. (Photo by Ariel Cobbert)
“When we lose a member of the Ole Miss family, we are touched individually and collectively in different ways,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Brandi Hephner LaBanc said.
Former The Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief Logan Kirkland read his piece, “Mourning the loss of a friend I never knew.”
“We are all a part of the Ole Miss family and when one of us dies, we all feel the repercussions of the loss,” Kirkland said. “My words here will never articulate the beauty of the lives we have lost, but I hope they make you understand that you do not mourn alone because losing a friend that you never had can and will change your life.”
A list of those who were being honored was read by University Staff Council President Sovent Taylor, Faculty Senate Chair Michael A. Barnett and Associated Student Body President Austin Powell. Gardenia flowers perfumed the air as visiting family members and friends placed them in remembrance.
Ole Miss staff members remembered included Robert S. Forster, Donald H. O’Dell and Ronny J. Tackett, Robert B. Albritton, Ward Charles Barnes, James Ronald Bartlett, Goberdham Bhagat, James P. Chambers, James Jerome Cooke, Thomas Ashley Crowe, Columbus Burwell Hopper, Robert Lawrence Jordan, Frances B. Maxey, John Willis McCauley, Henry Pace, James E. Shollenberger and Kenneth A. Stead, Jr. were the faculty commemorated at the event.
The students honored were Bryce Berry, Andrew Fox, Anastasia Hirsch, Taina Laporte, Carli Sears and Alison Tuberville.
“The Ole Miss family extends beyond those we are here but to their families as well,” Hephner LaBanc said. “We want to give [the families] the opportunity to [come] back and remind them we are remembering their loved ones.”
Ty Alluschuski, assistant to the vice chancellor, was in charge of planning the ceremony.
“The memorial ceremony is a great tradition on our campus, and certainly something that means a lot too many different people,” Alluschuski said.
The University has been holding the memorial service on campus on the last Thursday of classes during the spring semester since 2008. The event was open to the campus community, family members and the general public.
“We find, however, that the grief and sadness that accompanies our losses one day will give way to remembrance and appreciation of the life of that person whose presence blessed our lives,” Hephner LaBanc said.
