2008 Woodie Awards
Campus grieves Lopez
Matt Wilder
Issue date: 9/22/04 Section: News
Over three months ago, Suffolk student Leo Lopez was shot and killed in an early-morning altercation on the streets of Charlestown, Mass.
On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the Suffolk community stopped and memorialized him and his all-too-brief life.
Suffolk University's Hispanic Association (SUHA), the President's Office of Diversity Services, along with the campus interfaith center joined together to create the memorial.
The service was held in the usually bustling student activities center located on the fourth floor of the Donahue building.
At 1p.m. the majority of student organizations closed their doors and the members gathered to pay their respects.
Lopez's parents and his sister sat in the front row and were greeted by friends of their son. University President David J. Sargent, Dean of Students Nancy C. Stoll, along with numerous other university officials and professors paid respect to the Lopez family.
As friends, classmates and faculty alike gathered, a photo of Lopez smiling, wearing a Boston Red Sox cap was displayed on a projection screen.
Speaking with The Journal after the service, Lopez's mother, Martha Lopez, said she and her family never knew what an impact their son had made on the Suffolk community. She went on to call the service "very touching".
"I said to my husband today, I wish I was coming here for another reason," she said.
The memorial opened with a welcome from University Chaplin Amy Fisher.
"We have gathered here this afternoon to celebrate the life of Leo," Fisher said to the crowd. "We gather in a foreign land; the land without Leo."
She then introduced Sargent, who remembered meeting Lopez at a SUHA event a year ago. Lopez had encouraged Sargent to try a new Latin dance.
"All of us have memories of young Leo and they combine to make the fabric of his young life," Sargent said.
There were several students and faculty speakers who took their turns at the podium to share their thoughts and memories of their friend, many of them holding back tears.