Digital Extra: The Station Fire

"Rhode Island Remembers" reads the banner around a wreath at a State House ceremony commemorating the disastrous fire.

10:06 AM EST on Friday, February 18, 2005

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- They mourned their lost loved ones under the dome of the State House last evening -- the families and friends of 100 people who entered a nightclub two years ago for music and fun and never walked out.

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

Sue Carcieri, wife of Governor Carcieri, hugs Phyllis D'Andrea, of East Providence, after a service in the State House rotunda last night in memory of the victims of The Station nightclub fire. D'Andrea lost her daughter Lisa in the Feb. 20, 2003 fire.

"She can't be here," Bonnie Hoisington said of her late daughter, Abbie, a 28-year-old teacher who died in the Station fire Feb. 20, 2003. "So we have to be."

Rhode Island Remembers, read a blue sash wrapped around a memorial wreath of white flowers that Governor Carcieri and his wife, Suzanne, placed on a stand at the start of last night's simple ceremony.

The reasons prompting roughly 100 family and friends to attend last night's State House ceremony were also simple.

"My daughter died in the fire and I want her to be remembered, if not by everyone, then by us," said Phyllis D'Andrea, of East Providence, who went with her husband, William, to honor Lisa, a Cranston special-education teacher who died at age 42.

William D'Andrea cannot bring himself to go to the fire site, in West Warwick. But going to the State House felt right, he said. The memory of that Thursday night two years ago remains so vivid to the D'Andreas, they mention it as though it were last week.

"It was the last night of school vacation," William D'Andrea said. "She was always in bed so early. I guess because it was a vacation week, she decided to go out . . . " his voice trailed off.

Two years have passed. But when the harp music began playing last night, the tears were fresh. Family members held up photographs of their lost sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and friends, as the Rev. John Holt began to pray.

Mr. Holt, the head of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, oversaw The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund, and has worked closely with fire survivors and those who lost loved ones.

"For those people, it is still very new and fresh and difficult," Mr. Holt said. "It may seem like two years is a long time, but it is not for someone who has been through this type of trauma."

Most of the Medeiros family, of West Warwick and Coventry, came to remember their brother and uncle. Tom Medeiros, 40, a champion runner who has four records that still stand at West Warwick High School, died with his girlfriend, Lori Durante, a mother of two sons. His body was found shielding hers in the rubble of the nightclub.

"We felt he deserved to be remembered," said his sister-in-law Madeline Medeiros, her large brown eyes wet with tears. "It is very hard, but no matter how much we cry, we are going to come."

The pastor of SS. John and James parish in West Warwick, Monsignor Jacques L. Plante, delivered the benediction -- a blessing that also asked God to help those struggling and mourning.

"May the lives we live serve as a fitting tribute for those who died," Monsignor Plante said.

Not everyone who attended the ceremony felt peace. For some, the grief is too fresh and no comfort has been found.

Robert Johnson traveled from his home in Pennsylvania to attend last night's ceremony, in memory of his 32-year-old son, Derek. Derek Johnson, a manager at an Internet security company who spent much of his free time volunteering with sick children, died in the blaze.

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

Photos of victims of The Station fire are held aloft by friends and family during a service at the State House rotunda. Sunday is the two-year anniversary of the West Warwick tragedy.

He wants justice for his son, and fears he will not get it.

"I'm still not satisfied," Robert Johnson said as he sat on the marble staircase before the ceremony began, a photo of Derek pinned to his chest. Robert Johnson said he does not understand why the legal system has moved so slowly, and, in his view, so inadequately.

Walter Castle Jr., of North Kingstown, said he went to honor several of his friends who died that night, while he survived.

"It's tough because I'm still having nightmares and I miss my friends dearly," Castle said. "It isn't the same without them and I think of them every day."

Mr. Holt said his reading, inspired by the book of Isaiah, focused on healing after great suffering, and turning bitterness into peace.

"Wherever you have been,

Whatever you think,

Whoever you are,

The Lord is whispering: Hope. Live. Sing," he ended his prayer.

****

Digital Extra: Look back at The Station fire and its aftermath, post remembrances to its victims in an online guest book and more, at:

http://www.projo.com/wwfire