The University plans to honor Morgan Dana Harrington with a plaque on the Copeley Road bridge, where she was last seen alive. The Board of Visitors announced yesterday that the memorial will be dedicated Oct. 17, exactly one year after Harrington disappeared during a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones Arena.
Harrington, a 20-year-old education major at Virginia Tech, left her friends during the concert and was missing for more than three months before her remains were discovered Jan. 26 in a remote farm 10 miles south of Charlottesville. No suspects have been located, and the investigation is ongoing.
A film commemorating Harrington's life - entitled "A Gift for the Village" - will be shown following the dedication, said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget. Jane Vance, who taught Harrington at Virginia Tech, created it.\nAn informal memorial of flowers, notes and photographs has long marked the site of Harrington's disappearance, but the planned memorial plaque will serve as a more formal and permanent reminder. The current collection of memorials and well wishes will be removed Oct. 4 and sent to the Harrington family, in preparation for the Oct. 17 ceremony.
"We are grateful to the University of Virginia for honoring the wondrous but abbreviated life of Morgan Dana Harrington by dedicating this memorial plaque on the site where Morgan was abducted," the Harrington family said in a statement. "Our family hopes that Morgan's tragic death will serve as a catalyst for community-wide rejection of violence and investment in a culture of interdependence and integrity that will promote safety for all."
University President Teresa A. Sullivan said the plaque will serve as a permanent reminder of the tragedy.
"The loss of a beautiful young person with a bright future is one of life's greatest sorrows," she said in a University press release. "We want to mark her passing in a formal way."
The plaque will read: "In loving memory of Morgan Dana Harrington (1989-2009). A student at our sister institution, Virginia Tech, Ms. Harrington was last seen alive on this bridge on Oct. 17, 2009. University of Virginia. Dedicated on October 17th, 2010." Following the inscription will be a pattern of three lines of dots - two on the first line, four on the next, followed by a single dot on the third line - representing a Harrington family expression: "I love you too much, forever and once more," written also as "I love you 2 much, 4ever and 1nce more." Morgan's last words to her mother, Gil Harrington said, were, "241 momma."
Sheehy explained that it is unusual for the University to take such action but that Harrington's disappearance and murder is an unusual and tragic event. "I believe it is an appropriate way to honor the remembrance of her," Sheehy said.
The plaque will be dedicated during a ceremony at 2 p.m. on Oct. 17, followed by the film and a reception in Newcomb Hall.
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