New permanent memorial honors victims of Sandy Hook shooting in Newton
NEWTOWN, Conn. (WTVD) -- A new memorial honoring the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting is now open to the public, weeks before the 10-year anniversary of the tragedy.
The memorial has winding pathways that lead to a water feature with a sycamore tree in the center. On top of the wall surrounding water are the names of the 6 staff members and 20 first graders taken that day in 2012.
One of the first names you see when you approach the memorial is Catherine Violet Hubbard, she was just 6 years old.
Catherine's mother, Jenny Hubbard, spent years growing up in Chapel Hill and still has family there.
Jenny and the other victim's families got a private viewing of the memorial before it opened to the public.
"It was sad and it was somber. And it was it was just a moment of realization that I've been so focused on the sanctuary. And Catherine. And her life. It was pulling into that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a collective tragedy of 26 people. To be there in that space with the families who also lost, it was a reminder that we have this sacred sorrow that we all share," Hubbard said.
ABC11's Barbara Gibbs first met Jenny two months after she lost her daughter, and have kept in touch all these years.
Watch the video below for more on Jenny's journey from grief to gratefulness and a true testament of her faith.
