SOUTHAMPTON, N.S. – Judy Brown often decorates her Southampton property for special events such as Easter, Halloween and Christmas, but following last month’s shootings in northern and central Nova Scotia she knew she had to do something to honour the victims.
With the help of her husband, and a big assist from Acadian Printing, she erected a makeshift memorial to show her community cares.
“It’s just terrible what happened. I was absolutely terrified that something like this could happen in our province,” she said. “People are really hurting. When I saw all the flowers (in Portapique) I decided I wanted to do something for people in this area.”
The sign says “From Southampton community our hearts are with you.”
She found a large piece of chipboard and drew a heart with a black marker after which her husband cut it out. To it she affixed tiny hearts and rhinestones along with tiny lights that were put in place by her son.
At the centre of the sign is a photo of the victims while at the base there are flowers that she placed there, along with those that were left there by people in the community.
“I can’t say enough about Harry at Acadian Printing. I wanted to get the letters laminated and called him. He told me to come right up and after they were done he never charged me a cent,” Brown said.
Each heart on the sign stands for every one of the 22 victims of the shootings that occurred in Portapique and other areas, including Wentworth in Cumberland County as well as Debert and Shubenacadie.
“People really like it,” she said. “I’ve been getting a lot of comments on Facebook from all over, as far away as Ontario and British Columbia.”
She’s unsure how long she will leave the sign but is welcoming anyone to drop by and leave flowers or just to look.
