Legacy Event Round-Up: A Gathering of Remembrance 💛🕯️

On November 12th, our community came together for one of Morning Light’s most meaningful traditions, our annual Legacy Event: A Gathering of Remembrance. This nondenominational memorial brings together families, volunteers, supporters, and staff to honor the lives of those Morning Light has cared for through their final days.

The evening opened with a warm welcome from Executive Director, Madison Wood-Gonzalez, who introduced the gathering and shared the heart behind this tradition. Thanks to the careful coordination of Kylee, our Home’s Hospitality Coordinator, guests were greeted with refreshments and a beautifully prepared space for reflection and community connection.

The dedication ceremony was led by Nathan McDade of Workforce Chaplains, whose wise words were a gift to our gathering around the pyramid memorial.

As part of the gathering, Kate Nickelson, Morning Light’s Social Services Manager, read the poem, For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon. A deeply moving moment and Kate’s reading is also featured in the video we’ve created, where her voice accompanies images and footage of the home, offering a heartfelt reflection on the lives we honored.

Legacy Event Video Featuring the Reading of the Poem “For the Fallen”

Following the poem, Karen Adan, our Director of Programming, read aloud the names of the 35 individuals Morning Light has homed and cared for this past year. With each name spoken, a candle was lit in their honor.

This year, we dedicated 35 newly engraved bricks, with more than a thousand names now engraved on the Memorial Pyramids. It stands as a powerful testament to every life held, warmed, supported, some of whom have no other memorial or graveside to visit. Their memory is held within our home.

We were deeply moved to welcome back so many family members of previous residents, their presence brings life to this event, year after year.

Each name spoken…

Each brick engraved…

Each light placed…

reminds us that at the Morning Light Home, we honor every life entrusted to our care, both in the moments we share together in life and in the memory of them we carry forward always.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, supported us, and continues to believe in our mission of compassionate, dignified end-of-life care.