Memories of children who have died burn bright

compassionatefriends.org and griefshare.org

Vancouver on Sunday joined a wave of light spreading around the globe in memory of children who have died.

More than 60 people held lighted candles at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for a Compassionate Friends service.

One hundred and ten names of children who have died were read at 7 p.m.

Started in 1997 as a small Internet observance, the Worldwide Candle Lighting “creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone (and) is believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe,” organizers said in the service program.

Vancouver’s eighth event was organized by Kathy Deschner, Lorna Bradford and Barbara Waite, all who have lost children.

“We do it to honor and remember our children,” Waite said. “We never want to forget them. They will always be in our heart.”

Her son, Sean Bisenius, died in 2003 of a heart attack. He was 24.

“Sean played bass guitar, and he played for our (Summit View Church) worship band,” Waite said. “The night he died, he had just got through rehearsing ‘I Can Only Imagine,’ which is about heaven.’”Waite said her son was born with heart problems but “They said he was 96 percent recovered.”

Waite told the crowd, “I had never experienced such pain before. … That’s a pain you cannot run away from.”

She said she found help through the group GriefShare. Today, she is a facilitator/trainer with the group at Summit View Church, 7701 N.E. 182nd Ave.

“Barb has helped hundreds of people in this community through GriefShare,” Deschner said.

“It’s such a long journey that we have,” Deschner said. “We know that their light will always shine,” she said of children who have died.