Ossining Dedicates Coronavirus Remembrance Memorial

OSSINING, NY — A COVID-19 Remembrance Memorial is being installed at Nelson Sitting Park.

The memorial garden will include an inviting sitting area meant to encourage reflection while honoring family, friends, and neighbors lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hope is to comfort visitors as they mourn the sudden and staggering losses suffered throughout the Ossining community and beyond and to help them hold space to remember.

The Ossining Village Board of Trustees, State Senator Elijiah Reichlin-Melnick, Town Supervisor Dana Levenberg, Village Manager Karen D’Attore, Village Historian Joyce Sharrock-Cole and first responders broke ground for it March 13.

“Collectively, over the past year, our community endured tremendous loss,” said Mayor Rika Levin. “We have learned to live in the vast unknown. Ossining – truly a Village - came together with resiliency and compassion to care for each other. I am fortunate to live in the Village, and am so thankful to be here as our lives and well-being adjust to the new normal."

Residents are encouraged to share stories about their family, friends, and neighbors through the Ossining Community History Collection Project: Ossining during COVID-19. This project will inform future generations of what everyday life was like during the pandemic.

At the groundbreaking, Village Historian Sharrock-Cole read the poem 100 Days by Mary H. Wu, which was submitted to the history collection project.