Digital Extra: The Station Fire

"In the Arms of Angels" is the name of a special tribute garden honoring the memories of those who died in the 2003 in The Station nightclub fire.

09:27 AM EST on Thursday, February 17, 2005

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Kayla Ayer's teenage pursuits include the high energy of hip-hop dance and the sporting challenges of basketball and football. But coax a zinnia from seed? No way. Plunge her hands into garden soil? Never.

Kayla, however, will do anything to honor the memory of her mother, Tina Marie Ayer, who died in The Station nightclub fire. So this week, Kayla helped others working on a Station fire memorial garden for the 12th annual Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, which opens today.

As front-end loaders moved mounds of mulch in the Rhode Island Convention Center exhibit space on Sunday, Kayla helped build the memorial's walkways.

"I laid some bricks. I swept the thing clean" after the bricks were placed on a bed of sand, says Kayla, who sports a baseball cap and au courant piercings of eyebrow and tongue. "I helped go get the bricks."

Kayla will greet visitors today, Saturday and Sunday in the garden -- called "In the Arms of Angels" -- near the granite "book" inscribed with the names of the 100 victims, including Tina Marie Ayer.

"She was a very giving person," Kayla says of her mother. "She was perfect in every way. She did the best she could. I never had the chance to thank her, but she's taught me well."

Ken Quaranto, of KDQ Landscaping Inc., of Warwick, and chairperson of the flower show committee of the Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Association, says the committee began planning the tribute garden last year.

Volunteers from the group's 400 members have planted 100 white tulips (each bears the name of a victim); 100 bleeding hearts, 2 white dogwoods, rosemary, and roses. An angel spreads its wings above a reflecting pool.

Materials were donated by 20 local nurseries, landscape companies and other retailers. A company from Athens, Ga., provided the granite marker.

Donations collected at the garden will go to The Station Family Fund, which provides financial assistance for survivors and victims' relatives.

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

The Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association created a special memorial garden in remembrance and healing for the many people affected by The Station Nightclub fire. The garden is named "In the Arms of Angels" and includes the names of those who died.

While the fire site property in West Warwick remains the focus of a legal dispute, Quaranto says he learned just days ago that members of a separate group, The Station Fire Memorial Foundation, were apparently concerned that "they weren't contacted" about this memorial and confused over its purpose.

Victoria Potvin, president of The Station Family Fund, says she is unaware of any concerns. The nurserymen's association "contacted The Station Fund a long time ago" about wanting to do a tribute garden to raise money for survivors and victims' family members, she says, "and we've always just been grateful when anyone wants to do a fundraiser." Kimberly Jalette, president of The Station Fire Memorial Foundation, could not be reached yesterday.

Quaranto says the nursery and landscape group plans to donate the granite marker and the angel for optional use in a permanent memorial.

TINA AYER was a 33-year-old twin, with curly black hair streaked with blond highlights, and brown eyes.

Her preference ran to jeans, leather jackets and work boots. She wore gold rings on every finger, gold crosses and pendants around her neck, and gold hoops that rimmed each ear. "She was a biker chick," says Ayer.

Tina Ayer loved rock 'n roll and metal, and loved to sing. Hours before the Great White concert -- during which the fire started -- Tina Ayer met bandleader Jack Russell at the Fairfield Inn in Warwick, where she worked as a housekeeper. He included her and her best friend, Jackie Bernard -- also a housekeeper at the inn -- on his guest list.

In the dramatic Channel 12 video, Tina Ayer can be seen near the stage, before dense toxic smoke rolled over a panicking crowd.

"I've seen the tape. She was right in the front row," said Kayla. "I saw her turn around . . . she was one of the first people to start heading out" as the fire began to spread.

A previously published report quoted Bernard as saying that she had been clutching Tina Ayer's coat, trying to drag her along, but then the flames intensified and Tina Ayer was lost.

"When I first learned that my mother was dead I just dropped to the floor," says Kayla. "The first day I found out, I flipped out, I really did. But in a month, I handled things myself. I just made myself stronger.

"I'm like my mom," Kayla adds. "She was very strong. She could handle stuff. It just sort of rubbed off."

Kayla chose not to return to Coventry High School right after her mother died. When she did return, she says, her grades suffered. Last September, she entered the high school's Alternative Learning Program.

"I wanted my education -- it's an important part of my life. It's what my mom would want. I don't want to be a dropout," Kayla says.

"She's doing really well," says Cheryle Ihrig, whose daughter, Rachel, is a close friend of Kayla.

Ihrig is a master gardener at the University of Rhode Island cooperative extension, and works with "Gardening 4 Good," a nonprofit organization whose members offer horticultural therapy for elderly people.

As Kayla's unofficial mentor, and through gardening affiliations that include working with Quaranto's group, Ihrig prodded Kayla to get involved with the memorial garden. Kayla's participation will also count toward her grade in art class, Ihrig says.

"I did this so she could feel good about herself," says Ihrig. "Kayla has decided to go back to school and graduate so she can go to college and become employed in a career of her choice. She is doing a good job . . ."

Kayla "did great" in helping with the garden, Ihrig said, "except she was mad at me. I bought her new construction boots, and they hurt her by the end of the day."