Coeur d'Alene butterfly release brings families together in grief
Families wrote messages on dissolvable paper and watched Painted Lady butterflies lift from Share Hope Memorial Garden, where grief in Coeur d'Alene was shared in public.
Butterflies rose over Share Hope Memorial Garden in midtown Coeur d'Alene as families, friends and strangers gathered Tuesday evening to mark the fifth memorial butterfly release planned for the site. The Community Memorial Butterfly Release brought people together at 8th Street and Gilbert Avenue for remembrance, quiet conversation and the release of Painted Lady butterflies raised in University of Idaho labs.
The 5:30 p.m. gathering included refreshments and remembrance activities before the release, with Auburn Crest Hospice and Northwest Infant Survival & SIDS Alliance hosting the event. Attendees wrote notes to loved ones on dissolvable paper, then placed them under water and flowers before the butterflies were set free. Some participants wore shirts reading “Alayna Strong” to honor a little girl who died at 16 weeks. One attendee also brought blue butterfly wings for a dog named Ollie.
Stephen Cook has supplied butterflies each year with help from students in the University of Idaho Entomology Department. Share Hope Memorial Garden memorializes miscarried and stillborn infants behind old pines and an iron gate at Eighth Street and Gilbert Avenue. The garden was donated to the Northwest Infant Survival & SIDS Alliance in 2014, and the organization has provided emotional support to families affected by pregnancy, infant or child loss since 1961. It began that year as the SIDS Foundation of Washington, formed by eight bereaved parents, and adopted the NISSA name in 2012.
Auburn Crest Hospice’s Coeur d'Alene location includes bereavement specialists, social workers, volunteers, spiritual care coordinators and nurses.
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