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Coronavirus News: Westchester County honors COVID-19 victims with 'Ribbons of Remembrance'

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Westchester creates memorial for COVID victims

Marcus Solis reports Westchester County, site of one of the initial outbreaks of coronavirus in our area, is the first to establish a memorial to victims of the disease.

YONKERS, Westchester County (WABC) -- A new memorial called "Ribbons of Remembrance" now stands at Lenoir Preserve overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades dedicated to Westchester County residents who have lost their lives to COVID-19.

"We need within our culture certain social points where we can come together," Westchester County Executive George Latimer said. "We have all lost people that we know and love through this process.

Visitors will find the memorial a short walk away from the Lenoir Preserve parking lot in front of the Wightman Mansion.

Ribbons and permanent markers will be available at the memorial, and visitors are encouraged to write the name of someone they have lost on the ribbon and tie it to one of two trees or the rope structure.

"This is a chance to do something tangible to remember that person in those quiet moments, when it's you, the remembrance of your loved one and nature," Latimer said. "We are here near the eternal Hudson and eternal mountains in sky that (were) here before we got here and here long after we are gone. It's a way to remember that this people were once with us, important to us and we're not going to forget them."

Visitors are also asked to drop used permanent markers in the designated bin to be properly disinfected by parks staff.