Dear fellow Hanoverians:
\nI am hard-pressed to find adequate words to describe what the loss of
\nMatthew Cox means to our community. I think one of the things that
\nstrikes me the most is the outpouring from all corners of town\u2026young
\nand old, classmates and teammates, parents and grandparents\u2026for a
\nten year old boy who so many of us knew, but so many more of us did
\nnot know, myself included. So, we got to know him, we prayed for him,
\nwe wept for him, and when it was announced Friday that he was gone, we
\nwept some more.
\nMatt was a Hanover boy. Raised here until last summer by his
\nkindhearted and loving parents Ann and Bill, he played sports here,
\nwent to church here, and he grew as old as he would become here. His
\ntragic zip-lining accident the day after Christmas was every
\nparent\u2019s worst nightmare. The innocence of a child, snatched while
\nlaughing and playing? Whose heart would not break at that news?
\nSo we did what Hanoverians do. We rallied around Matt and his family.
\nWe stopped each other in the hall or grocery store to check in with
\nnews about him. We read \u201cCaring Bridge\u201d updates to each other at
\nwork, posted Facebook updates on our smartphones, and created
\n\u201cMessages for Matthew\u201d on a website. Hundreds of light blue
\nribbons were wrapped around telephone poles and mailboxes all over
\ntown. Games were dedicated to him. We donated money, took up
\ncollections of gift cards, and printed up bracelets. We gathered at
\nSt. Mary\u2019s to pray, and some even found renewed faith thanks to Matt
\nand his family. We shared stories of Matt in the classroom, on the
\nball fields and skating rinks, and in our homes. And we hoped, and we
\ncried together.
\nHe brought us together, that too-young Hanover boy. For four weeks, we
\nwere a little softer around each other, and perhaps a little more
\nforgiving. Some of us played with a bit more intensity because we
\nrealized how fleeting play can be, and I am sure we were more loving
\nwhen looking in the eyes of a child. From all I have heard about him,
\nthat sounds like who Matthew Cox was every day for his ten years:
\nsofter, forgiving, playful and loving. Maybe we\u2019ve all become a
\nlittle bit more like him. What a gift therefore he was to our
\ncommunity! Godspeed Matthew Cox. Our thoughts and prayers are with
\nthose who loved you.<\/p>\n
For “Around Town on the Web”,
\nCathy H-B<\/p>\n
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Dear fellow Hanoverians: I am hard-pressed to find adequate words to describe what the loss of Matthew Cox means to our community. I think one of the things that strikes me the most is the outpouring from all corners of … Continue reading