Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Saint Martin's College students pass by a memorial honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks after a Monday ceremony dedicating the 6-foot stone and plaque.

Saint Martin's puts memorial to victims of Sept. 11 in stone

LIONA TANNESEN THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY -- Flags stuck to car windows after the Sept. 11 attacks are fading to pink and curling at the edges.

But a 6-foot, 30,000-pound rock memorial for those who died is firmly in place at Saint Martin's College.

The college dedicated the memorial Monday -- exactly six months after the attacks -- in a persistent drizzle.

The memorial reads: "In remembrance of those who perished on September 11, 2001."

"It is a reminder of what can be done and what should not be done," Saint Martin's College President David Spangler said of the memorial.

Alpha Sigma Chi fraternity raised $1,300 at its annual haunted house for the memorial, said pledgemaster Josh Callon.

Callon, a senior psychology major, found the rock in front of a residence hall, said Father Paul Weckert.

"It took two tractors to drag it," Callon said.

The memorial is amid crocuses, primroses and other early flowers in a newly landscaped bark bed north of Burton Hall.

Fifty students, faculty and monks stood under tents Monday during the blessing, speeches and songs.

The college choir sang "America the Beautiful," and college spokeswoman Holly Harmon sang "God Bless America" a cappella.

The audience tentatively joined in for "God Bless America."

"Let's do that again," Harmon said afterward.

The second time, nearly everyone sang.

Freshman Stephanie Day was one of the students who came to the dedication.

Day, who lost a close family friend on Sept. 11, said the memorial is a great gesture.

"I encourage everybody when you walk by to say a brief prayer for those who perished or who were affected," Callon said.

-- Josh Callon, Saint Martin's student

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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