LEWISTON — Shortly after the mass shooting Oct. 25, 2023, a crisis counselor with a therapy dog named Cooper hopped on a Southwest Airlines plane to head to Maine to aid a wounded community.
While in the air between Dallas and New York City, passengers began scrawling messages for Lewiston on the airline’s surprisingly durable paper napkins.
Andy Garmezy, a volunteer with the National Crisis Response Canines, gave them to L.L.Bean, which had hired him. It created books featuring the messages, which were recently given to the city and Maine MILL, and handed over the napkins themselves to the Lewiston-based museum.
“You’ve always been Lewiston Strong,” wrote a Bates College student named Kate who was on board. “Keep going. We love you.”
A health professional at Maine Medical Center charted the course of recovery from tragic events. Eventually, the note said, “It gets better. Sort of.”
Most of the notes offered prayers and well wishes.
“Much love from New Brunswick,” one said.
Another said that “in a world where there seems to be no love, know that Southwest Airlines Flight 1843 is full of people praying for all the families that went through this horrific act of pain. Love and prayers for all those in Lewiston, Maine.”
Rachel Ferrante, executive director of the museum, said a copy of the book will be available at the special exhibit on the mass shooting. A second copy is going in the museum’s archives, she said.
Ferrante said she isn’t sure what to do with napkins, but will preserve them for possible exhibition someday.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.