Eight years later, a place to reflect, a place of peace

Memorial to mark heartbreak of 1999 at Columbine High

Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, September 20, 2007

On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School was a place of shock and sorrow.

Friday afternoon, on a hill above the school, a memorial to the tragedy opens amid optimism that it will embody a different emotion.

"I think people will find comfort immediately from it," said Don Fleming, whose daughter, Kelly, was murdered at Columbine in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

"The setting is beautiful," he said. "I go up there all the time. You look out from the memorial, and you're looking right at the foothills. It's just beautiful."

The $1.5 million memorial, crafted in a hill in Clement Park, is set to be formally dedicated Friday afternoon in a ceremony designed to both honor the 12 students and teacher Dave Sanders who died and to look ahead.

Like Fleming, Brian Rohrbough hopes that the memorial, ultimately, will soothe those who still hurt from the senseless violence of that spring day. But he worries it will take time.

"I think that it should be a place of comfort, ultimately, but at the same time, it likely will be a place of anguish and turmoil for some," he said.

Rohrbough's son, Dan, was shot to death on a sidewalk outside the school.

Friday's ceremony should last a little more than an hour.

And even without former President Clinton, who played a vital fundraising role for the memorial, organizers aren't sure what to expect in terms of attendance.

Bob Easton of the Foothills Parks and Recreation District, which will oversee the memorial's upkeep, said a crowd of 3,000 to 5,000 is expected.

For Fleming, the dedication means family coming from out of town - a half-dozen relatives who are traveling to Colorado for the ceremony.

"It wasn't like I said, 'Hey, come out for the dedication,' " he said. "They wanted to come out."

For him and his wife, Dee, the dedication is about more than remembering their daughter. It's also about the community they call home - and about their gratitude that people pushed to get the memorial built.

"It's important, obviously, to the families, but the whole community went through that day as well," he said. "It should be a place they can go and learn a little more about our children and Dave Sanders."

Dedication schedule

Here is the tentative schedule of events for Friday's dedication of the Columbine Memorial, slated to begin at 4 p.m. in the Clement Park amphitheater:

• Honor guard presents the colors.

• Columbine High choir sings The Star-Spangled Banner.

• The National Guard conducts a flyover.

• Columbine High choir sings the alma mater.

• The Rev. Jerry Rohr gives the invocation.

• Bob Easton of the Foothills Park and Recreation District welcomes guests.

• Dawn Anna, whose daughter, Lauren Townsend, was killed at Columbine, speaks as a representative of the 13 families who lost children.

• A local recording artist sings a song.

• Patrick Ireland, who was wounded in the attack, speaks as a representative of those who were injured.

• Columbine Memorial Committee member Kirsten Kreiling speaks as a representative of the community.

• Rohr gives the benediction.

• Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis reads names of the 13 students who were killed.

• Balloons are released.

• Escorts take families and their guests from the amphitheater area to the memorial site.

• Columbine High teacher Lee Andres leads families and guests in reading a dedication statement he composed.

• Doves are released.

• The memorial opens to the public.

If you go

• You should bring a chair or a blanket to the ceremony, which will be held in the open-air amphitheater in Clement Park.