PERRY — Three candles were lit at the service for Hope and Healing on the anniversary of the Perry High School Shooting. One for those who died, one for those who survived and one as a beacon of hope.
“A year ago, we gathered in shock and disbelief at the tragedy that had struck our community in its aftermath, we lit candles and sang songs and prayed prayers and leaned on one another for strength,” said Pastor Kimberly Belken of Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church. “We didn’t know what the days and weeks and months ahead would look like for our community in our time of great need, we found strength in one another and in this community.”
Around 50 members of the Perry community gathered at the old Ben Franklin Building downtown, looking for community and to come together as the one-year mark of the shooting left the town quiet and still. Ministers from eight Perry congregations offered words of love, support and care for those who attended.
“This community is no stranger to heartache,” said Pastor Andrea Brownlee of the First Christian Church. “In the eight years that I have served in this community, I have said that sentence more times than I wish I had to.”
More: ‘It’s been a struggle’: A year after the Perry school shooting, community seeks normalcy
The community, a town of just under 8,000, was shaken by the unthinkable in a small town when Dylan Butler, 17, fired 23 rounds inside the school, killing 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and fatally wounding High School Principal Dan Marburger. Four students and two teachers were injured. The shooting came to an end as Butler took his own life.
“A year ago, the unthinkable happened here in Iowa. Time has passed, but the painful loss remains,” said Gov. Kim Reynolds in a statement Saturday. “Today, we remember Principal Dan Marburger — a hero who gave his life to save his students — and Ahmir Joliff — a bright young man with his whole life ahead of him.
“Kevin and I continue to pray for the injured, their families, the faculty, staff, students and the entire Perry community that has valiantly grown stronger as they rebuild.”
Karin Kliewer, 65, Perry Elementary’s nutrition services manager and a 29-year resident of the community, said smaller communities like Perry often take for granted the safety and intimacy of small towns.
“When something like this happens, it rocks your world,” Kliewer told the Register. “I think we just take for granted our safety and what our lives have been like, and when something like this happens … it disrupts what we’re used to, but we heal together.”
Kliewer, along with other attendees of the service, found hope in the words offered.
“By people showing up, that just shows that we were right in needing something for the community today,” he said. “So I’m glad that people were able to attend and hopefully found something for themselves as they were here. … I hope that (those who didn’t attend) had a day that was what they needed it to be today, whether that was staying home or being with friends or whatever that might have been; I understand that need for normalcy and routine.”
Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Perry heals ‘together’ on first anniversary of Iowa school shooting