- Photograph by Josh Morgan
- Angela Robinson, the step daughter of Dorwin Stoddard who was killed in the shooting, is embraced by a friend at the start of the memorial.
A tone of celebration and hopeful rejoicing filled McKale Center for the Together We Thrive Tucson & America memorial.
The capacity crowd applauded as family members, doctors, and Arizona politicians entered the V.I.P. section in the arena. Among the capacity crowd were Bill Heilman, whose wife was the neighbor that brought young Christina Green to the Giffords meet-and-greet on Saturday; Angela Robinson, the step-daughter of Dorwin Stoddard; now world famous Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik; and many other politicians including Senators John McCain, Jon Kyl, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and many Arizona politicians.
These are just some of the faces in the crowd.
More Photos after the jump.
- Photograph by Josh Morgan
- Bill Heilman takes a moment to greet the capacity crowd in McKale. It was Heilman’s wife who brought Christina Green, the 9-year-old killed in the shooting, to meet Rep. Gabby Giffords
- Photograph by Josh Morgan
- The now world-famous Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik stands amidst other heroes from this weekend’s tragedy.
- Photograph by Josh Morgan
- Other Pima County leaders attend the memorial, including County Supervisor Ray Caroll, a Republican.
- Photograph by Josh Morgan
- Angela Robinson looks up to the jumbotron as the McKale crowd applauds one of the officlas who had arrived.
This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.
Kept having a feeling from watching at home that tortillas would have (and should) start flying. The tortillas, of course, would be modified for the occasion with the image of Gabby emblazoned on them. I’m not being cynical, just that there was an atmosphere, at times, that communicated the crowd was a little more happy than I would have expected at a “memorial” service. Maybe it was seeing President Shelton (or any UA president for that matter) at a podium in McKale that instinctively makes me want to reach for a bag of tortillas that have been strapped to my ankle, snuck into yet another commencement ceremony, hidden by my long pants. Of course the Secret Service would probably have taken a dim view of my actions. Anderson Cooper on CNN was puzzled by the jubilance of the ceremony. Flying tortillas would have sent him over the edge.
Having been there also, the atmosphere was definitely far from somber. It was more of a a coming together to celebrate the heroism and the lives lost Saturday. I think calling it “memorial” was a bit of a misnomer, but that should not take away from the reasons why the gathering took place.