JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Even with Easter falling on the same day as the Columbine High School shooting, people of all ages visited the Columbine Memorial to remember the lives lost on that day. Rhonda Grindle was among the community members paying their respects. She put up 14 crosses to honor the victims.
In the fall of 1999, Grindle met Greg Zanis, the founder of Crosses for Losses. She promised him she would help with putting up crosses each year on the remembrance. As people walked out of the memorial, several stopped to observe the names and pictures on the crosses.
"Every year, numerous people come by here and they've never seen these before, and some of them, they're just standing there. Some are crying, some are just, I think, remembering and they just thank us for doing it. I tell people it's just my honor to do it, so I hope that people can be kinder, more loving," Grindle explained.
On Sunday morning, Grindle began putting the crosses in the ground and around 11:20 a.m. She read each name out loud, with this year bringing a new name.
"It's an honor, and this year we added Anne Marie because the coroner said it was related to her wounds at Columbine," Grindle said.
Anne Marie Hochhalter survived the mass shooting, but was shot and left paralyzed from the waist down. This February, she died at age 43, with the Jefferson County Coroner's Office ruling her death as a homicide. Denver7 spoke with Hochhalter's loved ones, who described her compassion and resilience
Grindle shared that it was hard to add another cross 26 years later, but is dedicated to her promise of carrying the legacies of the lives lost on that day.
"Just remember, I am part of that crew, the 'never forgotten.' We said that way back when too, probably first or second anniversary, 'never forgotten' and I mean it," Grindle said.
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