CEDAR CITY — Just after sundown Wednesday, the night of the winter solstice, approximately 20 people gathered at Cedar City’s Main Street Park to observe “Homeless Persons Memorial Day.”
“Today is the first day of winter, the longest night of the year,” Iron County Care and Share director Collin Wallace told those in attendance as they stood in a circle and held small flashlights during the 20-minute vigil.
“We choose this day to memorialize the members of our community who passed away in homelessness,” Wallace said, adding that at any given time, there are between 75 and 100 people living in homelessness in Iron County.
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness estimates 15,600 people experiencing homelessness die annually, Wallace said.
“In Cedar City, we are honoring seven people and one animal whose lives were lost while on the streets, in our shelter or under our care,” he added. “On this night, we stand with communities across the country who have gathered to mourn those who have died and to renew our commitment to a world where housing should be a right, not a privilege. Tonight, we stand with them.”
Iron County Care and Share shelter manager James Jetton then read the names of those being remembered. They are as follows: Cara Rosenfeld, KC Weber, Neil Smith, Gail Christopher Briley, James McCullough, Colleen Brown-Smith and an unnamed infant. Additionally, a dog named Bella, which had been a beloved companion to Glory Slayton, also was recognized.
Slayton, who was in attendance at the ceremony, said that Bella had been inside her vehicle when it was stolen several months ago from in front of the Iron County Care and Share facility, where she had been seeking shelter assistance.
“It came to be that this young man stole my car, and Bella was in the car,” Slayton said to those in attendance. “He took it on a high-speed chase and ended up rolling my car and my Bella passed away.”
Slayton expressed her appreciation for the support she received after the incident.
“I just want to thank the Care and Share for everything they’ve done for me and Bella, and the rest of the folks that live there,” she said.
Another attendee then took a few moments to talk about Brown-Smith, who was remembered for her regular attendance at weekly “church in the park” gatherings.
“She was a friend,” the woman said. “Colleen was a regular attender every Friday, and she was very sweet and very eager to learn. We just miss her smiling face on Fridays.”
During his remarks, Jetton also mentioned Brown-Smith, saying she died three months before she could be moved from the homeless shelter and into the housing for which she had been approved.
“Colleen was in shelter with us twice over the past couple of years, both times fleeing domestic violence,” he noted. “She struggled and fought really hard and very bravely to put her life back together after getting out of the situation she was in.”
“It’s very sad for me that she didn’t actually get to make it into her new home,” Jetton added. “She was so excited about that.”
Jetton said that besides Brown-Smith, there were two other seniors on the list – Weber and McCullough – who were approved for housing but died before that housing became available.
Weber’s wife, Jetton noted, continued to stay in the shelter for a while after her husband’s passing.
“She is now housed and loving her new apartment,” Jetton said.
“The other one was James McCullough, another senior that was with us for a while,” Jetton added, explaining that McCullough died of health complications in St. George as he was preparing to go from transitional to a more permanent housing situation.
Jetton also shared some of the things he remembered about Briley.
“Chris, as we knew him, was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life,” Jetton recalled, adding that Briley was a combat veteran who loved to tell stories, recite poetry and sing songs to others at the shelter.
“Just a unique one-of-a-kind person, a wise person,” he added. “I remember just him sort of sitting at the table, regaling everybody of stories from his lifetime.”
As the vigil drew to a close, Jetton thanked those in attendance.
“I appreciate you all so much for coming out,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we get together on this night when it’s cold when it’s a long night,” he said. “That’s kind of the point, right? To understand the situation that too many of our community members find themselves in. And then, to just take this time to kind of reaffirm our commitment to helping people in need to giving people a pathway out of crisis, to treating them with dignity and kindness. That’s why we do what we do.”
This is the first step toward working toward a solution that sometimes doesn’t seem to have a solution, Jetton said.
“But if we keep working and keep treating people with compassion and kindness, maybe, hopefully, one day we’ll be able to get there,” he added.
For information regarding the latest statistics about homelessness in the United States and links to available resources, click here for a detailed summary report posted on the University of Nevada, Reno’s website.
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