December 21 marks the winter solstice this year – the shortest day and longest night of the year, and the moment when the Northern Hemisphere tilts the farthest away from the path of the Sun in the sky. This has become the annual date of the Homeless Memorial Vigil that is the product of efforts by LISTEN Community Services, Lebanon Human Services, the Upper Valley Haven, the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, TLC Family Resource Center, and a range of other individuals and organizations, many rooted in Lebanon. The 2024 vigil will take place on December 20 starting at 5:30pm at LISTEN’s campus in White River Junction, in memory of those who have passed in the last year, whose lives have been shortened due to homelessness. The event is open to anyone who wishes to attend to recognize and grieve the lives that have been lost.
The winter solstice has long been the setting for memorial vigils across the country for those who have been without stable housing. In the Upper Valley, the event has taken many iterations over the past few years. The event, which centers on the reading of names of the departed, has also featured stories about the departed, hymns, and calls to action. In recent years, the event has taken place at various locations in the Upper Valley, including Colburn Park in Lebanon, as well as on the Upper Valley Haven’s campus in Hartford. In 2018, the vigil included a walk across Lyman Bridge to symbolize the bi-state nature of the event; in 2020, the vigil was broadcast virtually. This year, the event will be co-sponsored by organizations in Lebanon and Hartford and will take place outside LISTEN’s Community Dining Hall, a common destination for many seeking a warm dinner in the evening. Following the event, organizers, community leaders, and other members of the regional community will hold vigil, aiming to keep a campfire lit throughout the night.
Attendees holding vigil around a campfi re at 2022’s memorial vigil
In her introduction at last year’s vigil, LISTEN Community Services programs director, Angela Zhang, invited attendees “to notice the cold and the wind, and how it feels on your skin, in your fingers and toes, on your nose and ears, in your bones.” This experience is a key component of the vigil, and Zhang asked her sheltered listeners to imagine how their unsheltered neighbors feel when they do not have the option to return to a warm place after the event. “For those of us who are sheltered, this is an exercise of imagination,” she said. “For those of us here who don’t have shelter, this is a daily, lived reality, and the beginning of a long night, not just a long hour.” The vigil’s speakers then read the names and stories of nineteen individuals from the Upper Valley who passed away in 2023.
Angela Zhang of LISTEN Community Services speaking at the 2023 vigil.
Sterling Daniel Swortfiguer is one of the Upper Valley residents whose passing was mourned by the attendees of last year’s vigil. Sterling was born on October 22, 1947, and died alone in his vehicle on March 25, 2023 in Lebanon. He worked as an interior designer in New York City for many years before coming to Vermont and becoming a substitute teacher at Leland and Grey Union High School in Townshend.
The Upper Valley community also mourned Walter McDow, who spent many of his later years in Lebanon and White River Junction. Walter was born on November 10, 1965 and died on January 13, 2023 in the care of the oncology unit, visiting nurses, and hospice staff at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. He enjoyed listening to country music, watching old sitcoms, and sharing stories about his loved ones. While living in the Upper Valley, Walter was a regular client of LISTEN, Lebanon Human Services, and the Haven; many staff members of these helping organizations continue to grieve Walter’s passing.
Sterling and Walter were two of the nineteen individuals whose stories were read at the 2023 vigil. Sadly, there will be more stories of our neighbors to be shared at this year’s gathering, but the spirit of remembrance and togetherness will be collectively experienced. The list and stories will be compiled shortly before the date of the vigil, to ensure the information is as accurate and comprehensive as possible, but there are likely more individuals who were not known to service providers, and certainly far more experiences than can be shared in the short time of the event.
The Upper Valley Housing First Working Group has been meeting regularly since 2016 under the guiding principle that safe and reliable shelter is a fundamental need for human beings, and so the first step in supporting the needs of unhoused people is to ensure this access to shelter, after which their other needs can be addressed. The working group has since seen numerous successes, including the apartments at 10 Parkhurst Street in Lebanon, that provide access to both housing and supportive services to those in need as the result of a partnership between Twin Pines – which owns and manages the building – and the Haven, which provides supported housing services and a seasonal emergency shelter that opened on Mechanic Street in Lebanon at the beginning of 2024 and is returning this winter. The working group in turn convened a smaller organizing group for the Homeless Memorial Vigil; this year the group began meeting in July to plan the December event.
Reading the list of names at the 2023 vigil.
The vigil is an important event for many in the community. “Mourning the dead is one of the most fundamental of human instincts, an activity that is common across cultures around the world,” notes Reverend Stephen R. Silver of Lebanon’s First Congregational Church, one of the members of the organizing group. “The unhoused who have passed away in the past year were our neighbors, members of our community. It is fitting to acknowledge the death of these individuals, known and unknown, for they are people, just like you and me, and it is appropriate that we grieve their passing.”
The vigil’s organizers recognize and support the need of people to grieve the loss of life; that said, they also hope to prompt members of the community to take what action they can to mitigate this problem. For some, this may be as simple as having a conversation with neighbors; for others, it may mean volunteering time at organizations and municipal boards. Lebanon Human Services director, Lynne Goodwin, notes that “inaction will lead us right back here next year,” organizing another vigil for more lives lost. As such, the organizers have the distinctive goal of organizing an event that calls for its own end. This reality is not lost on the organizers, who hope in future years to complement the vigil with a celebration of those community members who have found permanent housing. Until the point at which no more lives are lost due to homelessness, though, the group intends to continue mourning those lost lives and to seek more solutions to support our most vulnerable neighbors.
