Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Hundreds of community members gathered Thursday at the St. Bernards Auditorium to honor deceased loved ones by hanging Christmas ornaments.

Hosted by St. Bernards Hospice, the annual Moments of Remembrance event invited the community to bring an ornament to hang on the St. Bernards Memorial Christmas Tree to honor loved ones who died this past year.

Participants, who remembered parents, grandparents, spouses, and more, approached the tree, said the name of their loved one, then hung their ornament. Before people approached the tree, a candle was lit for all loved ones. The tree, with all its ornaments, will be displayed at the St. Bernards Hospice House.

“Holidays are a time that are filled with lots of joy and busyness, and sometimes it’s hard to slow down,” Breanna Watson, clinical services manager at St. Bernards told JRN. “There’s also a bunch of people that are hurting, and there’s an empty seat at their table at Christmas. It’s really a time to slow down and just take a moment and remember those people that we love so much.”

Don Martin with St. Bernards’ pastoral care team led the opening prayer. Vocalists Kimberly Stuart, Kristyn George, and Ashley Noel performed various hymns, and Pam Towery was the guest speaker.

Pam Towery spoke about her husband, Ronald Towery’s, battle with glioblastoma. He was a professor at Mississippi University for Women, Middle Tennessee State University, and later Arkansas State University. He died in May at 77, according to his obituary.

During this time, he was taken care of by both St. Bernards Home Health Services and later The Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House at St. Bernards.

The Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House is a residential hospice facility in Northeast Arkansas, offering 24/7 hospice support through 20 private rooms. It also has an in-house chapel, shared family room, dining room and kitchen. The Jones couple were lifelong hospice advocates.

“The Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House was just a lovely, supportive, and encouraging place to be during Ron’s end-of-life journey,” Pam Towery said. “We were thankful for the vision of those who made this facility a reality for Jonesboro and surrounding communities.”

Charlott Jones, who is the daughter of Flo and Phil Jones, told JRN that at this year’s ceremony, she and her siblings honored their sister, Florence Jones, who worked as an RN and later a traveling nurse for various charities. She died in July at 66, according to her obituary.

“It just helps, I think, bring peace. She was very much an outdoors person. She loved canoeing, so we did a canoe ornament,” Charlott Jones said. “Her nickname was Floatie ’cause she loved floating on the river. So, it was nice to be able to come and remember her.”

At the ceremony’s conclusion, Watson likened grief to being like a Christmas tree.

“It changes from year to year. The process is difficult, the struggle is real,” Watson said. “But with time and support, grief can transform, becoming something we can stand back and marvel at again. Pain and joy, hope and despair, they coexist, and together, they make it whole, complicated, yet beautiful again.”