The Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy may have happened over a month ago, but to Mark Reynolds, a Southwest County man, it seems like just yesterday. “It really hit home for me… the idea of someone coming in and doing that, it’s just sick,” said Reynolds. After mourning the loss of the kids and teachers, Reynolds decided to do something. He decided to build a memorial to the victims in the front yard of his property on Crescent Boulevard in Southwest County. “I wanted people to drive by and think about it again… not to be reminded of the sadness necessarily, but to remember to love their kids and care about others,” Reynolds said.

He bought wood and made 26 crosses with each victim’s name on the front. At Christmas time, he even put stockings on the crosses and at night he lights the entire memorial up with white Christmas lights. It’s a peaceful memorial… The crosses form a semi-circle around a center garden filled with branches from fir trees. In the center of the garden sits a beautiful statue of an angel…. “I thought it fit perfectly in here among all the other angels,” Reynolds commented and went on to say, “I just wanted to honor those kids and teachers.”

Reynolds is doing that every day… he may not live on the busiest road with the most traffic, but those who do drive by and see the memorial are reminded of the tragedy that happened in Newtown, Connecticut that cold day in December. Reynolds hopes that by putting up this memorial, he will not only honor those who died, but also remind people to “hug their kids every day.”