Please also see Coronado Superintendent: Police Are Watching Schools Closely Friday for other local reaction to the Connecticut mass shooting.
Under a Christmas tree in Rotary Park, they gathered, some with votives, others with altar candles.
They lit the wicks, said prayers, sang hymns and generally tried to find some hope despite the catastrophic sense of loss reverberating out from Newtown, CT, site of the devastating attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning.
Nearly two dozen Coronado residents, about half of them children, formed a circle below the festively lit community tree. One woman, Tandee Scott, a clinical researcher, noted there were almost enough candles to represent each of those lost in the school shooting.
A gunman killed 26 people, 20 of them children. He is believed to have then killed himself.
Charlette Preslar recited a prayer and concluded by noting that the flames from all the candles might produce enough “light (to) overshadow so much of the darkness felt today.”
The vigil, held under steady rainfall, was organized via a quick campaign of emails and Facebook posts Friday afternoon.
Those gathered sang “This Little Light of Mine,” followed by a somber “Silent Night” and “Amazing Grace.”
And one man, who said he just wanted to be known as “one of the candle holders,” said even “20 years from now” he “will not forget this day.”
“I pray we'll all learn what's so important to us,” he said, “our family and our community.”
