https://www.wabi.tv/content/news/The-Summit-Projects-Honor-Display-Case-at-Penquis-504025161.html
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – A Bangor based non-profit will be *standing watch* for the next few months.
They are housing The Summit Project’s Honor Display Case.
TV5 was there for the ribbon cutting ceremony Monday afternoon.
“The Summit Project Honor Case is a living memorial,” said TSP volunteer Andrea Marquis.
Stones representing lost loved ones serving as a reminder…
“Each stone is hand picked by a family member of a fallen soldier,” said Marquis. “The stone is specific to that family. It could be from a childhood backyard. It could be from a lake or a pond that they were at as a child, and that stone is then engraved.”
The stones are displayed in a variety of places. They’ve been carried on tribute treks to mountain peaks. Sometimes by loved ones, sometimes by strangers.
The Summit Project offers these families something they need.
“Not only am I able to be with other people who are grieving their losses of their loved ones, it’s enabled me to feel included and understood,” said Gold Star mother Susan Stout.
“These people understand how I feel, and they are non-judgemental. They are very kind, and their focus is on something bigger than themselves, and that’s what I want to be as well. It’s the service of our loved ones that we need to honor and keep that memory perpetuated.”
Stout and Marquis are mother and daughter. They lost Aaron, their son and brother. Monday would have been his 46th birthday.
“A lot of times when a soldier is lost or there is a family member who has fallen after all the hoopla, after the military funeral, everybody kind of goes about their lives,” said Marquis. “This is a way for Gold Star families to have their loved one nearby and live on in other people, share their story and learn about their soldier.”
We asked how it felt Susan to have her son represented… “Incredible,” she said. “Very proud of him. He fulfilled his duty, and to have my son be represented here with the other Maine fallen heroes is an honor. It makes my heart warm, if you can understand that. And I’m very proud of him.”
The Honor Display Case will reside at Penquis until March.