Families, friends of homicide victims to gather for 'Remembrance Tree' ceremony - Knoxville News Sentinel

Holidays can be especially painful for the families and friends of homicide victims.

"Christmas is a very hard time of the year," said Joan Berry, whose daughter Johnia Berry was murdered in 2004. "For those who have lost a family to violent crime, holidays are rough on all of them."

Photo by Wade Payne
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Joan Berry, the mother of murder victim Johnia Berry, hangs an ornament in her memory during a ceremony to dedicate the Remembrance Tree Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 at the City County Building. The East Tennessee Victim's Rights Task Force is sponsoring the Christmas tree for friends and family who lost loved ones to violence. Johnia Berry was murdered in her West Knoxville apartment in 2004.

Joan Berry organized Hope For Victims, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting victims of homicide and their families and friends. On Friday, the group will hold its third annual Holiday Remembrance Tree event, at 5 p.m. in the lobby of the City County Building. Anyone who wishes to place a memorial photo or ornament on a Remembrance Tree in honor of a loved one lost to violent crime may do so. Families of missing people believed to have fallen victim to foul play also participate.

Johnia Berry's murder went unsolved for several years. A suspect was charged but hanged himself before trial.

"I always felt in my heart that I might have accepted Johnia's death a little differently if it had been a car accident," Joan Berry said. "But someone coming into her bedroom at 4 o'clock in he morning and just stealing her life away, I could never find the words to express what this has done to me. My pain today is just as great as it was then."

The annual ceremony is just one of several ways that Joan Berry has dealt with her grief. She also was instrumental in getting the state Legislature to pass legislation requiring more extensive collection of DNA samples from criminals.

The ceremony came about because she was never able to attend a victims' memorial ceremony in Nashville. When she met other relatives and friends of victims who had also been unable to attend, she decided to establish the Knoxville ceremony.

"I thought it would be a good thing to do closer to home," she said. "Our shared grief gives us a connection to each other that creates a bridge of understanding and hope. We are here for each other to share memories and experiences, to vent, ask questions, and offer each other support, friendship, and hope."

Dan Frye's father, Bill Frye, was shot to death 21 years ago in the parking lot of his South Knox County convenience store. It was several years before a suspect was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

"The Remembrance Tree gives my family and I a very special opportunity to acknowledge our loss but also remember my father in a peaceful and loving way," Dan Frye said. "It helps me replace a portion of that pain with a memory of love."

Participating individuals should be inside the City County Building no later than 4:45 p.m. on Dec. 2. Later arrivals will not be accommodated due to security measures. Picture ornaments no larger than six inches in size are recommended for the Remembrance Tree. Ornaments will not be returned to respective family members.

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