'The World Will Feel The Impact Of The Pandemic For Generations:'

By Brian M. Johnson, The Bristol Press

November 19, 2021

“It’s the circle of life- as one life ends another begins,” said Sarah Larson, deputy superintendent of the city’s Parks, Recreation, Youth and Services Department at Friday’s covid-19 memorial tree planting ceremony.

The red maple, planted near the playground on the Federal Hill green, will stand as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the covid-19 pandemic.

Despite heavy rain Friday, members of the Bristol Historical Society, the Parks, Recreation, Youth and Services Department and the public gathered under the Federal Hill gazebo to speak on the historic occasion.

Sarah Larson, deputy superintendent of the city’s Parks, Recreation, Youth and Services Department, said that the tree will stand as a “living memorial” to those whose lives were lost in the pandemic.

“It will be a lasting contribution to the environment and a way to honor the victims of the pandemic for years to come,” she said.

Larson said that a red maple tree is native to Bristol. Its distinct red leaves are often seen as a symbol for the arrival of fall.

“It is also a symbol of mourning and the memories which those left behind will hold and treasure in Japanese and Norse cultures,” said Larson.

Maya Bringe, president of the Bristol Historical Society, said that members of the Bristol Historical Society kept in touch electronically during the early stages of the pandemic. Ellie Wilson, program chair of the Bristol Historical Society, introduced the idea of planting the tree. Doing so was made possible thanks to the contributions to a private donor.

Bringe said that, in her conversations with Wilson, the fact that they were living through a “defining moment in history” was not lost on them. Yet, Bringe said, it was “strange” to experience it in isolation.

“Unfortunately, the human cost of the pandemic was experienced by so many in the very same way,” said Bringe. “Lives were lost at a strange time when people were largely unable to get together to celebrate and grieve for them. I know that our organization was touched by the loss the pandemic brought, as were so many other families, friends and communities. It seems appropriate to memorialize those very personal public losses now, while at the same time acknowledging that this pandemic is a reminder to us that history isn’t something that merely happens in the past. We are marking this pandemic both on a personal level and as an event that we have a duty to record.”

Later in the ceremony, Maya Bringe made mention of the Bristol Historical Society’s late Building Committee Chair Jerry Thompson, who died last year due to complications from covid-19.

“The world will feel the impact of the pandemic for generations,” said Larson.

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.