For the past nine years ahead of the Christmas season, a special tree was placed in the Greenbrier Valley Mall, a symbolic space for the community to honor those they have lost.
The 9th annual Greenbrier County Angel Tree and a candlelight service on December 26 offer a way for families and friends to honor, mourn, and remember their loved ones, and a sense of community for those who have lost someone. Each individual ornament on the Angel Tree was placed by someone honoring another they were close to.
“It’s been good. There’s always a lot of tears,” explained Roger Honaker, a founder and coordinator for the memorial. “There are so many on there that are not just natural deaths. There are many tragedies. … There are so many that are taken unexpectedly that cover the tree.”
The memorial began in 2010 with an area support group after the passing of several local children.
“It started on Facebook,” Honaker explained. “Several young people had died … and someone had posted that we should hang an ornament on our own tree at home. That would be a good way to remember those people. It just bloomed from there.”
The group soon leap from the digital and into Greenbrier County life, contacting the Greenbrier Valley Mall. They were granted the space to put a tree up. As the years passed, the group needed a larger and larger tree to accommodate the growing number of ornaments.
“There’s been as many as 400 ornaments on there at one time,” Hoanker said. “There’s 76 on there right now [on Thursday, December 5].”
Honaker acknowledged Larry Patton, the mall manager, for supplying the space for nine years and an approximately 10-feet-tall tree the past two years, a proper size to accommodate the amount of participants.
The Angel Tree is an inviting space for anyone to hang an ornament; Honaker specified that it was free of charge and open to all, even if they’re just visiting the area. Honaker and his “right-hand man” Bill Lewis keep a steady supply of ornaments for anyone that might want to add a name.
“I get a lot of messages asking how to go about hanging an ornament and if there’s a charge. There is not,” Honaker said. “As long as you go during mall hours, you can hang anytime from the time it opens to when it closes. … We always leave ornaments under the tree. If anyone comes by that doesn’t know about the tree, but they see the sign and what’s going on, they can get an ornament and there are markers under the tree.”
After the first year, the group also began to hold an annual candlelight service for the community to gather and remember.
“It happens every year – we have a candlelight service,” Honaker said. “This year it’s 6:30 [p.m.] on [December] 26 [at the tree in the mall].”
During the service, Pastor Kenny Baker with Grace Baptist Church in White Sulphur Springs will speak and hold the space for any person who wants to speak in honor of a loved one.
“It’s open to anyone; most of the time it’s people who have someone on the tree, but anyone can come. … Everyone is given the chance to share a memory, say anything they want to say, then we blow out the candles. It’s a really good service,” Honaker said. “It’s the community’s tree. Everyone is welcome to put an ornament. The candle light service is short but its a really beautiful service, offers some closure, and you may say something that you’ve been wanting to say but just haven’t.”
Read more in the Friday, December 6, 2019, edition of The West Virginia Daily News.
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