Originally posted on UVA Today
More than 9,000 University of Virginia students, faculty and members of the community gathered on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena to honor students UVA President Jim Ryan described as kind, funny and full of energy.
“They were serious students,” Ryan said. “They were sons and grandsons. They were brothers. They were hard workers.”
The memorial service honored the lives of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry through speech, song and video memories with an audience that reflected the diversity of the University and broader communities.
The tales their teammates spun brought tears and laughter less than a week after the three were shot to death on a bus that had just returned from a class field trip. The memorial was held on a day that would have been a home game against Coastal Carolina University. The contest was canceled days after the shootings.
“We are better and we will do better because of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean,” UVA Athletics Director Carla Williams said at the memorial. “To the families, we love your sons. And we will make sure their memories never fade at the University of Virginia.”
UVA Today also published an account of the range of emotions on display at the memorial service, as well as a selection of images from the event.
