On Sunday, April 19, Kurt and I drove to Waco to attend the annual memorial service led by Mt. Carmel survivor Clive Doyle. Starting in 1995, until 2005, I think, a service has been held on 4/19 at the Mt. Carmel site (a 1994 service was held in June). After Clive was pushed off the property by Charles Pace in early 2006, Clive has kept the 4/19 services for survivors and their friends and acquaintances going off-site in Waco. He has organized and led almost every one of these gatherings, I believe. He also has kept people up-to-date through the years with the Mt. Carmel Survivors Newsletter.
This year, the 16th Annual Mt. Carmel Survivors' Memorial was held in the small conference room of the Country Inn & Suites along IH-35 in Waco. From the look of the photos, I'd say around twenty-two people were in attendance. Kurt and I brought an audio recorder and took a few photos as well. We may be including the recording of the whole service in the online exhibit, but I wanted to share a portion of it here in the meantime.
Clive spoke for the first twenty minutes or so and that's what I want to highlight here, because he gives a thorough (and sometimes emotional) account of what all has happened in the past year especially, and in the years since April 19, 1993 generally. He discusses, most notably, the passing of David Koresh's father last June, Jaime Castillo last December, and Koresh's mother Bonnie in January.
Download Clive doyle memorial talk
Later in the service individuals got up to share their thoughts with the group, and at noon, as he does every year (since that was about the time the 4/19 fire started), Clive movingly read the names of those who died on February 28 and April 19, 1993. Here is one of the photos I took, featuring Matthew Wittmer speaking and Clive Doyle looking on. Matthew is a good friend of and advocate for the Mt. Carmel survivors, and he's been incredibly helpful to me with this project. You might recognize him from a previous photo in this blog.
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