PANAMA CITY – At the Panama City Mall this week, a table is set for eight while a placard at its head declares it to be “in loving memory of all victims of the 14th Judicial Circuit whose lives were stolen in crime.”
This is the 10th year Charlotte Greathouse has organized Missing Place at the Table, an annual memorial she started in 2006 after attending a similar event in Tallahassee.
“We came back with the hope to share the event with other families that had lost loved ones due to violence,” Greathouse said.
Greathouse and other volunteers will present a program today at 11 a.m. in the center court at the mall, near the old World Market entrance. The table and memory boards commemorating the more than 108 people who have been featured at the table will remain on display through noon Sunday, April 26.
Greathouse’s daughter, Kelli Bailey, was killed in 2001. She sets a place at the table for Bailey every year, along with a place for all victims of violence, a place for all children victims and places for new additions to the memorial. This year, six new victims joined. Relatives sent Greathouse information, pictures and place settings for the table. Next year, their pictures and stories will be added to the memory boards.
This year’s new additions are Leroy Minnich, Mary Ann (Castleman) Minnich, Terry Brazil, Justin Collins and David Walker.
The focus of Missing Place at the Table is the joy of lost loved ones’ lives and remembering how they lived, not how they died. Many of the memory boards barely mention their subjects’ deaths, sharing instead happy memories from family and friends. Greathouse said she and most families who participate have found the memorial helpful.
“That grief – it’s not that you ever get over it, you just find a place where you can find a little joy and that’s how you survive it,” Greathouse said.
This is the first year that the Commpassionate Friends of Bay County, a support group for families who have lost children, will be at the memorial to offer their services. Advocates at the State Attorney’s office, Tyndall Air Force Base, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center and the Salvation Army domestic violence program also provided support for the memorial.