After tornado, Alabama students finally get graduation day

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There might not have been a truer definition of bittersweet than the events that unfolded this weekend in an Alabama college town recovering from an April day when the winds screamed and the houses blew away like feathers.
In the Coleman Coliseum, named after a long-time Crimson Tide historian, 4,770 young men and women, draped in black gowns emblazoned with red A's, marched down the aisles normally reserved for basketball audiences. Sports are big at the University of Alabama; the spirit of legendary football coach Bear Bryant looms large in these parts



It was appropriate then that Fan Day, heralding the start of a new football season, falls Sunday, just a day after momentous ceremonies and remembrances that, this year, came with an uneasy blend of joy and sorrow, hope and despair.

A killer tornado twisted and turned through Tuscaloosa April 27, reshaping the lives of the latest batch of graduates at the university that dominates this otherwise sleepy town. Six of their own were among the 47 dead.

After the storm, the university ended the semester. School finished abruptly. Many students joined the community's relief efforts or went home.

This weekend's graduation helped bring closure, students said, and will help them start anew.

Friday night, the names of the six students who were killed were said aloud at a candlelight vigil on campus.

Scott Atterton, Danielle Downs, Ashley Harrison, Melanie Nicole Mixon, Morgan Sigler and Marcus Smith.

Their families watched as former student government President James Fowler laid down a red rose for each of their loved ones.

"Tonight we honor them," Fowler said. "Tonight we heal."

At the first of two undergraduate commencement ceremonies Saturday, University President Robert Witt called the names of their parents. They stood to applause and then accepted their children's diplomas awarded posthumously.

David and Darlene Harrison pinned photos of Ashley on themselves. It was hard to keep eyes dry.

"It was huge for those families to see the university body to recognize what they are going through," said Shannon Lindamood, who earned her degree in dance.

She could not imagine her own family -- her parents or her brother -- having to accept on her behalf.

"I know it will never be the same for them," Lindamood said. "But I hope this helped them."