Digital Extra: The Station Fire

More than 900 people attend last night's remembrance.

09:43 AM EST on Friday, February 20, 2004

BY CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY
Journal Staff Writer

A year has passed since their loved ones died, but the grief lives on.

The phone doesn't ring as much, said Sue Ellen Lebeau, now that her sister Judith Dalton Manzo, of North Providence, is dead.

Lillian Carbone, the mother of Kristine Marie Carbone, missed 11 months of work because the pain of her daughter's death was too overwhelming.

Last night, more than 900 family and friends of the victims and survivors of the Station nightclub fire gathered under a ceiling strung with handmade butterflies at Cranston's Rhodes On-The-Pawtuxet.

Families left framed photos of their lost loved ones along the front of the stage. Through song, prayers, and the butterflies, the ceremony's message encouraged them to heal and carry on.

The event was organized by Governor Carcieri, who called the butterfly a symbol of hope and renewal. Many family members already wore the butterfly lapel pins that had been left on each seat in the large banquet hall.

Journal photo / Kris Craig HEAVY TOLL: Survivors and friends and family of the victims of the Station nightclub fire file past photos of those who died, at the end of a remembrance ceremony last night at Rhodes On-The-Pawtuxet, in Cranston. The bell was rung 100 times, once for each victim of the fire.

Carcieri announced that the butterfly gardens at Roger Williams Park Zoo will be dedicated to the Station victims, survivors, families and emergency personnel who responded to the fire.

Some survivors avoided the event, trying to distance themselves from painful memories. Anna and Gennaro Companatico Sr. came to the ceremony for their son, Gennaro Jr., who was burned in the fire, but survived, while his longtime friend, James Gooden, died.

Their son still struggles.

"It's like an aftershock, a trauma," said his father. "It just doesn't leave him."

The ceremony opened with the sorrowful sound of "Amazing Grace" played on bagpipes.

"We come here tonight to remember," said the Rev. Robert L. Marciano, a police and fire chaplain in Warwick and the master of ceremonies last night. "The tragedy of just one year ago was an event that changed our lives, and changed our state forever."

Mr. Marciano said they are called to live out the one-word motto on the state's seal: "Hope."

Journal photo / Kris Craig Family and friends of Station fire victim Judith Manzo gather at Rhodes On-The-Pawtuxet for an anniversary service last night. From left are Manzo's friends Leslie Pye and Laurie Lareau, stepmother Paula Dalton, friend Roberta Vierra, sister Linda Dalton, mother Carol Malcomson, and sister Sue Ellen Lebeau, all of Attleboro.

The Rev. John Holt, of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, who counseled many families after the fire, gave an invocation that reflected the emotions they shared with him over the past year.

"Our souls refuse to be comforted and our spirits sink," he said. "Our eyelids fail to close as sleep eludes us. We are so troubled we cannot speak. During our troubled days and nights we recall the chaos and confusion of one year ago. We long for our lost loved ones. We share in the pain of those injured. Tears of loneliness and grief stain our cheeks. . . . God knows our weeping will linger into the night, but the joy will come in the morning. Thanks to God, we are not alone. Not back then, not now, never ever. We are simply not alone. Period."

Tears flowed and tissues were passed as the young voices of two teenagers sang "In the Arms of the Angels," by Sarah McLachlan. They were followed by a gritty, rock 'n' roll ballad performed by a fire survivor, Mike "Kaz" Kaczmarczyk, and his band.

The song, Creed's "My Sacrifice," ends with the words, "I just want to say hello again."

A bell tolled 100 times for the victims of the fire. The bell was rung by 10 groups that helped the survivors and families of the deceased, including representatives from the rescue personnel, state human service departments, hospitals, clergy, the American Red Cross, and the General Assembly.

"Although our state has suffered its worst, it allowed our very best to shine through," Mr. Marciano said.

The ceremony returned to its theme, the butterfly.

"The universal symbol of nature's powerful ability to change hovers over us," he said. "Butterflies of every color, shape and size, sent to us from schoolchildren throughout the state, who used their talents to make them just for you."

A teenage girl sang Mariah Carey's "Butterfly."

"Blindly, I imagined I could keep you under glass," she sang. "Now I understand to hold you I must open my hands and watch you rise."

The ceremony moved quickly to the final song, a gospel-style rendition of Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark."

"I finally see the light now. It's shining on me," sang the In His Image choir.

Lillian Carbone said the ceremony was respectful and peaceful. The healing message hit her in the heart.

"We have so much to be thankful for," Carbone said. " . . . I have to move on, on account of my other daughter and my husband."

Carbone had left a photo of her daughter in front of the stage, along with dozens of others. It was one of the main reasons she attended last night's event.

The photos, posters, and memorabilia will be collected and placed in the State Archive, where not just the names, but the faces of the fire victims will become a permanent part of Rhode Island's history.