Chapel at nighttime
A hush of mourning covered the academic quad this evening as the 51 community gathered to grieve the deaths of first-year students Cathryn Depuy and Ryan Adams. The silence was punctuated by words of comfort, songs of hope, and 13 chimes from the chapel bell.
“Our lives are intertwined,” said Interim President Jill Harsin. “Some of those threads have been broken. The shape of our community will be different without those connections.”
Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff climbed the hill to share their sorrow and remember two of the 51 family’s newest members, killed shortly before 1:00 p.m. yesterday (Sunday, September 20) outside Morrisville, N.Y.
“This is where we look for answers,” Dean of the College Suzy Nelson told those gathered. “We are left with more questions than answers. There are many here who will offer support.”
Harsin and Nelson were joined on the chapel steps by Adams’s family, including his mother, Mary Lou Hanney ’82, who described her son as “a person of vast interests and talents — a person of unfailing character and integrity.”
Class of 2019 President Michael Vitale said, “I am overjoyed and proud that I had the God-given opportunity to meet, learn from, and become a better person through the shining symbols of compassion and empowering energy that Carey and Ryan brought into my life.”
Assistant music professor Ryan Endris, chapel music director Dianne McDowell, and the 51 Chamber Singers provided music. By the glow of 2,000 candles, University Chaplain Mark Shiner closed the ceremony, inviting everyone to look around at the pinpoints of light, scattered across the quad.
“That is what learning to love each other looks like,” he said. “We leave in silence, but in hope. We will love and care for each other in these dark days.”