Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Close to 200 people filled the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library Wednesday evening for the annual On Wings of Love ceremony. It was the 17th year for the event, organized by the office of the 19th Judicial District Attorney General, which remembers victims of homicide.
Family members and friends who lost loved ones to homicide placed special ornaments on a Christmas tree inside the library. Each person or family came forward and announced who the ornament was in memory of. Other volunteers and law enforcement personnel also placed ornaments on the tree.
Renee Wimberly was at the ceremony and placed an ornament on the tree for her daughter, Kendra Stanmore. Stanmore was a victim of domestic violence and was shot to death October 12, 2010, at age 19 by her boyfriend who after a short time on the run from police committed suicide.
Stanmore left behind a two year old daughter who is now six and is cared for by Wimberly who talked about what On Wings of Love means to her. “It means a whole lot to me because I have her daughter and I’m keeping her mom’s name out there to let her know her mother didn’t die in vain,” said Wimberly.
Wimberly added that she wants the young child to know that her mother was loved and her mother loved her and that she understands we’re here for her and we’re surrounded by nothing but love when we come here.
Those speaking at the ceremony included District Attorney General John Carney, Verna Wyatt, Executive Director of Tennessee Voices for Victims and Fairlen Browning with the Montgomery County Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.