Thousands Of COVID Victims To Be Honored At Brooklyn Memorial

BROOKLYN, NY — A historic cemetery in Brooklyn will honor thousands of people who lost their lives during the coronavirus crisis with a new memorial this week.

The memorial, set to be unveiled with a ceremony Tuesday, will bring nameplates and personalized drawings made by family and friends of victims to the pandemic to the iron fence at Green-Wood Cemetery’s Fifth Avenue and 25th Street border, according to the cemetery.

The memorial will be on display until June 28. It is run by the cemetery and Naming the Lost Memorials, a group created last year to remember victims of the pandemic with memorial sites throughout New York City.

“Even as New Yorkers begin to feel the joys of opening, the pandemic rages on in other parts of the world. It’s not over. Nor is the sense of loss we feel knowing that 600,000 of our loved ones in the United States are gone from us,” said Naming the Lost member Kay Turner. “Mourning and remembrance are still necessary acts. Naming those lost to COVID-19 must continue. Our memorial at Green-Wood provides a place to do just that.”

During its time at Green-Wood, the public are invited to add their own nameplates to the memorial, which will be called “WE REMEMBER: A COMMUNITY COVID MEMORIAL.”

The original nameplates and drawings were contributed with the help of more than 20 community-based organizations, according to organizers. They will stretch 200 feet along the fence.

“All of us at Green-Wood have seen, firsthand, the toll that COVID-19 has taken on family, friends, our community and even our industry,” Green-Wood President Richard J. Moylan said. “This beautiful living memorial gives us a special place to remember what they meant to us and how they each made this world a better place.”

The memorial will launch with a procession on Tuesday evening.

Here are the details:

WHERE: Green-Wood Cemetery, corner of 31st Street and Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn. (For those unable to participate in the procession, meet at the Main Entrance of the Cemetery at 25th Street and Fifth Avenue.)

WHEN: 6 to 7 p.m. procession. The event will run until 9 p.m.

WHAT: The public is invited to participate in the launch and dedication ceremony. The interactive ceremony will include song, prayer, movement, and a candle lighting ritual, accompanied by a “naming of the lost.”