Silence in remembrance

Memorial at USC honors students, as life’s simple moments go on

By CAROLYN CLICK - cclick@thestate.com

Dale McNair wasn’t sure how she got herself to Columbia on Tuesday, but by noon she was standing silently before USC’s makeshift memorial to the seven victims of a weekend fire.

She needed to see the arc of wreaths — six garnet and black and one purple with a Tiger-paw ribbon — and remember Travis Cale, who died in the blaze with five other USC students and his Clemson girlfriend, Emily Yelton.

“His smile was just infectious,” said McNair, who watched Travis and his older brother, Burns, grow from middle-schoolers to young men, along with her own children.

McNair, who drove from her Greenville home, was among dozens who paused in their daily lives to stand before the Greene Street Gamecock. There, they remembered the seven students who perished Sunday in the early morning blaze on Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Six others escaped.

Some laid flowers, others placed letters on what has now become sacred university ground. Others stood silently, some bowed their heads in prayer. Two teddy bears, one white and one garnet, perched among the bouquets. A soccer shirt was tucked among them. The garnet bear bore the embroidered words “Bless my Gamecock.”

Even in tragedy, there was a quiet luminance to the day, a vibrance that accompanied the bittersweet joy of being alive and remembering.

Sunlight poured through green leaves, dappling the streets with shade and shadows. Bikers pedaled past at noon, along with a skateboarder. Students chattered on cell phones as they made their way to class.

Inside the Russell House student union, the thrum of daily collegiate life bore witness to the beauty of ordinary things — a cup of Starbucks shared with friends, easy camaraderie over a sandwich, a cosmetics demonstration.

On the sidewalk, freshmen Matt Nienhaus and Alexandra Hook manned a fundraising table for SEAS, Students Engaged in Aquatic Science, even as they watched individuals come forward to add to the memorial.

Television cameras quietly recorded the offerings, but even the reporters seemed reluctant to break the silence.

McNair snapped her photograph and remembered the last time she saw Travis and Emily — the USC-Kentucky game. It was a day of tailgating together at the Stadium Club, a partnership of Dale’s husband, Larry, and Travis’s father, Steve Cale.

That has been a staple of the families’ friendship and she remembered how the Cale boys were always so well-mannered and friendly during the many seasons of games they have shared.

Because of that, she said, “I don’t think we can do another game this year.”

She took one last look then headed to Savannah, where she was planning to pick up her daughter and grandchild so they could attend Travis Cale’s funeral together.

Reach Click at (803) 771-8386.