From corporate conference rooms to churches and college campuses, Americans draped themselves in burnt orange and maroon and became a united Hokie Nation on Friday, as a national day of mourning honored the 32 people massacred at Virginia Tech.
President Bush put on an orange-and-maroon tie to show support.
Churches across the country, from California to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in northeast Washington, D.C., rang bells and held vigils and prayer services.
At noon on a sidewalk in front of Norris Hall in Blacksburg, where the gunman from Fairfax County, Va., shot 30 of the victims Monday, a somber group of Virginia Tech students stood silently as bells across the campus tolled 32 times and a bouquet of 32 orange and maroon balloons was set free, disappearing into the clouds.
“They are winding their way to heaven, and I know they got there today,” senior Katie Wilson said, sobbing as she released the balloons, on which the victims’ names were written.
Gov. Timothy Kaine, who declared Friday a day of mourning in Virginia, spoke at a noon memorial service at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where several thousand people gathered.
Similar events took place in 40 other states, Kaine said.
“Sometimes in the midst of tragedies, it’s easy to forget the things that matter most and become distracted by other things,” Kaine said. “But we won’t allow that to happen. The thing that matters most today is to remember the family and friends who lost loved ones.”
Virginia Tech alumni held a beach vigil in Santa Monica, Calif., on Friday night. In Indianapolis, white doves were released as more than 300 students from five colleges held an interfaith prayer service.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano rang a fire department bell five times. In Frederick, home of Maryland’s largest carillon, a student rang a 3,400-pound bell once for each of the slain.
Across Northern Virginia, people gathered in public spaces and workplaces to pray for the victims, much of it spontaneous.
In Fairfax on Friday night, more than 2,500 people turned out for a memorial service at Robinson Secondary School sponsored by the county school system.
“We wanted to be part of the Tech Nation tonight,” said Ann Silano of Annandale, whose daughter will attend Virginia Tech next year. “The strength and unity they’ve displayed in the past week has been so admirable.”
In Old Town Alexandria, a lunchtime crowd came together in Market Square.
“I think it’s very compassionate and warming,” said Nichole Danraj, 32, a massage therapist and Virginia Tech graduate wearing a maroon school shirt. “In spite of the distance and in spite of the time, this helps. It helps relieve that pain. It’s a show of support.”
In Leesburg, nearly 100 people dressed in maroon and orange gathered outside the Loudoun County Government Center shortly before noon, bowing their heads. They sang “Amazing Grace,” and bells chimed. The silence was broken when someone chanted: “Go Hokies!” The school nickname was made up by a student in 1896 who used it in a spirit yell he wrote for a competition.
Workplaces were filled with tributes. In a conference room at Patton Harris Rust and Associates, a Chantilly, Va., engineering firm, a Virginia Tech banner draped in black material hung in memory of the victims.
Before a transportation seminar at Booz Allen Hamilton in Tysons Corner, staffers at the sign-in table displayed small ribbons in the Virginia Tech colors and offered to pin them on the lapels of arriving guests.
At Unisys, an information technology consulting firm in Reston, Va., employees were encouraged to wear Virginia Tech colors.
“We had a real strong turnout,” said Cecil Alton, an employee wearing an orange and maroon ribbon on his shirt. “It is something that affects all of us, whether we realize it or not. Today helps tremendously because you see everyone dressed in the colors, and you get a feeling of support and belonging, and for people who were directly impacted, they feel like they are not in this alone.”
At George Mason University in Fairfax, students and professors gathered just before noon around a statue of Mason, which had been dressed in a Virginia Tech basketball jersey. For several minutes, the only sound was the soft rush of water from nearby fountains. Then the bell in the clock tower tolled, and the group joined a choir singing “Amazing Grace.”
“I had all these people running through my mind that I read about and heard about,” said Suzanna Owens, 18, a Robinson Secondary School student who was visiting the campus. “… I just pray for the families that God will help them heal.”
In some places, bells tolled 32 times, and in others, the number was 33, which included one ping for the shooter. Some people said the day of mourning should include prayers for shooter Seung-Hui Cho’s family.
“What happened was no fault of the mother and father,” said Everett Williams of Falls Church, Va.
