The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced in a press release its 19th annual Season to Remember ceremony will be held virtually again this year. The ceremony, which is held to honor victims and survivors of homicide, will be streamed on the First Baptist Church’s YouTube page on December 2 at 5:30 PM.
The TBI said, “Holidays can be a difficult time for families missing their loved ones, and particularly for victims and survivors of homicide. That’s why federal, state, and local public safety officials have hosted “Tennessee Season to Remember” every year since 2003 to honor and remember victims and survivors of homicide.”
Governor Bill Lee is to speak at the event through a taped recording, as well as former First Lady Andrea Conte – who is also the founder of Tennessee Season to Remember – and Lisa Baker, this year’s keynote speaker, whose husband Dickson County Sgt. Daniel Baker was murdered while on duty on May 30, 2018. Jill Colucci, an award-winning vocalist, will be at the event providing musical entertainment as well.
The TBI said traditionally during the ceremony families from across Tennessee would gather to place ornaments on memorial wreaths in honor of those who have passed, and then the wreaths would be taken to the Tennessee State Capitol to be put on display throughout the Holiday season. But this year, due to the pandemic the names of those being honored will be read aloud during a special ceremony.
Last year’s ceremony was recorded and uploaded to the First Baptist Church’s YouTube account, WKRN News 2 Valencia Wicker spoke at the opening of the 18th annual ceremony. “Tennessee’s Season to Remember has become a holiday tradition,” she said, “through this event, we have been remembering and honoring homicide victims since 2003.”
Wicker spoke about her time as a news reporter, and how she had seen firsthand the effects that losing a loved one can have on a family.
Conte spoke at last year’s ceremony as well and said “Holidays are especially painful to remember those who are no longer with us. At a ceremony, at one Season to Remember, a few years ago, a mother said to me, ‘No, it doesn’t matter if it’s two weeks or two months, or two years, or 20 years. The tears and the emotions still flow.’ This evening is a time to comfort each other, to share each other’s strength and pain, as we honor the lives of those taken from us too soon.”
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
