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Residents turn out for 20th annual vigil

Suicide survivors remember loved ones together

WARREN — Haley Peterson described the father of her children, Christian and Olivia Fairchild, as a happy-go-lucky and generous person.

“He was like a hippie and would do anything for anyone,” Peterson said. “He was a good son, a good father and a good friend. Of course, I’m biased. That’s what made his death that much more difficult,” she said.

Charles Fairchild, 20, took his own life in October 2014, by shooting himself.

Fairchild left Peterson, his two children, his parents, Dan and Norma Fairchild, as well as siblings, to mourn him with no answers to why he took his own life.

“We come here every year,” Peterson said. “It does us good to be around others, and we want his children to remember him.”

Peterson and other members of the Fairchild family were not alone in their grief.

About two dozen people attended the 20th annual candlelight vigil in remembrance of loved ones who died by suicide at the Warren Reach Center, 2609 Weir Road.

The annual vigil coincides with the National Survivors of Suicide Awareness Day, which is held every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. National Survivors of Suicide Awareness Day was begun by former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who was a survivor of his father’s suicide, introducing a resolution in the U.S. Senate in 1999.

Cathy Grizinski, associate director with Help Network of Northeast Ohio, said there are 45,000 suicides every year in the United States, where suicide is the 10th leading cause of death.

In Ohio, one person dies by suicide every five hours, according to the statistics gathered by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Grizinski was first touched by suicide when a friend took his own life 34 years ago.

“We do these vigils to remember loved ones who died under different circumstances,” she said. “People question why those who have not attempted suicide are called survivors. We are affected by the deaths of our family members and our friends. People, wanting simple answers, ask us why the suicide happened. We do not have the answers.”

Grizinski described suicide as life changing for those left behind.

“People are left with extreme grief,” she said. “It is like post traumatic stress syndrome.”

Mary Kopiak, whose daughter, Valerie, committed suicide 20 years ago this month, said when a person dies at the hands of a drunk driver, people will honor their deaths. Mary Kopiak found her daughter on the bathroom floor on Nov. 9, 1998. Initially thinking the 19-year-old was drunk, Mary Kopiak took her to the hospital to get her stomach pumped.

It was then she learned of the pills Valerie ingested. On Nov. 20, doctors removed life support and Valerie died.

It was shortly after Valerie’s death that Mary Kopiak reached out for help. Today, she is reaching out to others, offering solace to others experiencing many of the same feelings she first felt 20 years ago.

“I am going to continue doing this as long as I am alive,” Mary Kopiak said.

She also helps organize a remembrance walk around Courthouse Square for suicide victims every spring.

Jerry Kopiak, Valerie’s father, said he had once been told there is a time to grieve and a time to heal.

“Twenty years later, I am still grieving,” he said. “I am also healing. I thank God for the 19 years he gave us our daughter.”

He talked about meeting a veteran at the Louis Stokes Veterans Hospital in Cleveland who went to the hospital simply to be around other veterans. Later, he learned the man he spoke with committed suicide.

“Today, I remember that lonely veteran,” Kopiak said.

Grizinski said there are 19 to 20 veterans in Ohio that die by suicide each month.

rsmith@tribtoday.com

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