Vigil to be held Wednesday to remember children who have passed away

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Christmas Box angel statue in Idaho Falls. The statue is a way to honor and remember children who have passed away.

“Losing a child is tragic,” Linda Hale, who started the statue vigil, said.

Linda and her husband Terry lost their granddaughter to SIDS a couple months shy of her second birthday.

“She was brighter than everybody in the world,” Terry said. “More beautiful than everybody in the world. That’s just the way you remember these lost children, they kinda just glow a little bit extra.”

When Linda discovered the book, “The Christmas Box” by Richard Paul Evans, it gave her an idea. In the book, a mother who has lost her child grieves at the base of an angel statue in a cemetery. Now, there are over 100 Christmas Box Angel statues around the world, including one in Idaho Falls started by the Hales.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to make that child alive again,” Linda said. “Even if it’s just for a few minutes.”

They have held a candlelight vigil around the angel statue for the past 10 years. It has brought a group of people together to mourn.

“We don’t want to be together because of what brings us together,” Terry said. “But because of those losses, we come together and it’s really helpful for each other.”

They say the vigil helps to remember the children that will never truly leave them.

“To those of us who have lost children, they’re very much alive in our hearts and in our thoughts,” Linda said. “So it’s good to get with other people to remember these children because they’re part of us.”

The vigil takes place Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in the Fielding Memorial Cemetery. They encourage those attending to bring a flower to lay at the base of the statue.