We had some difficulties finding this stop at first. Arguing over whether we are going to Allentown or Wescosville, until we figured out Wescosville is a part of Allentown (thanks to a Dunkin Donuts employee), and the address is Allentown. The nighttime vigil was held in a hall. When we were looking for it I saw a bunch of people standing outside a house and yelled that's it, but I was overruled because we were going to a hall. Turned out I was right and that was the hall, it just looked like a house from the outside. Meeting people in the dark by the truck confused me, especially because everyone was in purple, but once we got inside I could see better and tell who was who.
Holly Grim was 41 years old on the morning of November 22, 2013, when, just like any other day, she took her son to the bus stop at 6:30am. She returned to her trailer home where she would normally have a cup of coffee and a cigarette while sitting on her couch watching the morning news, and then get ready and leave for work. Her mother who lived in the same park came over at 7am. Holly's car was still out front even though she should have already left for work. Holly was not there, however, and her full cup of coffee was still in the living room but had obviously been disturbed. Holly has not been seen since.
The hall was packed with people. A sea of purple, Holly's favorite color. They were very welcoming, very happy to see us. They had just recently become a CUE case and were very excited to see how we could help them find Holly. They had a woman on stage singing and playing a guitar, and a purple table set up with posters, candles and flowers. The evening's host, Heidi, came around meeting us all, asking our names and if and who we had someone missing. I have to say this was the first time in my 4 years on the road tour that someone at a stop introduced us all by name along with our circumstance. Not that I've ever been bothered by the usual Monica and her team of volunteers, that's who we are, but Heidi was definitely going the extra mile. She did her homework.
Heidi begins by telling us all about Holly. She introduces Holly's mother who they've dubbed Mama Grim, her son and brother. She tells us that the large group of friends have been named "The Purpe Shirts" by the media. You can tell they've been working hard to find Holly and have held lots of events in the past 11 months since she went missing. In introducing Monica, you once again saw the research Heidi had done. She told about CUE's beginning, the Peggy Carr story, and about the road tour including all the specifics (4011 miles, 8 days, 22 stops and 11 states). You would wonder what was left for Monica to talk about but I already know Monica can instantly gauge the crowd and what's best to say. Afterwards, as we talked with everyone we heard lots of opinions and theories about what happened to Holly. This is an entire town that is dedicated to finding one of their own.
After the fiasco the previous night we were exhausted and we have a 5 hour drive to our morning stop. Normally we would set out to get some mileage donee ne'er our belts before stopping for the night but The Purple Shirts had gotten us rooms in town. Although this means leaving hours before daylight the following day, we are appreciative for having a decent place to stay and for their thoughtfulness.
Elisa
No comments:
Post a Comment