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Snowmen serve as tribute to school shooting victims

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

From left, Jessica Dimas; her daughter, Jayden; and family friend Ellen Butler pose with a tribute of 26 snowmen built to recognize the victims of the recent school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

AFTON — It's been on all our minds.

It was on Jessica Dimas' mind Thursday night. She was shoveling her way out of the season's first serious snowfall when she started thinking about the children killed recently in Newtown, Conn.

"I just started thinking off all those little kids that wouldn't be able to play in the snow," said Dimas, who lives on Madison Street in Afton. "I started a snowman and I just kept rolling and rolling."

Dimas invited her daughter, Jayden, 10; her daughter's friend, Ellen Butler, 11; and a neighbor boy, Kail Camp, to join her in building a uniquely youthful tribute to the lost kids and their teachers: a line of 26 snowmen. A 27th snowman was built in the backyard to remember the shooter's mother, who was killed in her own home with her own guns.

It was quiet work conducted far away from the chatter of TV commentators, politicians and lobbyists.

"We talked a little bit about what happened, how they (the victims) were all in God's hands now," Dimas said.

"The wind was blowing and it was cold, but it was kind of peaceful," she added.

The kids had seen some coverage of the event, said Dimas, admitting she'd seen plenty of it herself, as well. She also wondered how the grieving parents in Newtown would recover.

"They say time heals all wounds, but I don't think you ever really recover from the loss of a child," Dimas said.