COEUR d’ALENE — Families, individuals and friends came together Tuesday night with one goal in mind: healing. 

Many were strangers sitting down together for the first time, but all had suffered some kind of loss.

They arrived at the Share Hope Garden to take part in the Community Memorial Butterfly Release through Auburn Crest Hospice and Northwest Infant Survival and SIDS Alliance (NISSA). 

Wearing shirts that said “Alayna Strong,” David and Katie Miller were there to remember their little girl who passed away at 16 weeks.  

“Our daughter is a twin and her twin didn’t make it,” David said.  

The couple wrote a message on dissolvable paper and placed it into a flower-strewn fountain, where it disintegrated in the water.   

With paintings of blue butterflies, a sign by the bubbling fountain read, “Those we love don’t go away. They fly beside us every day.”  

Event founder and public historian Sara Jane Ruggles said that the first year of the event five years ago, a 10-year-old girl begged her family to take her so she could say goodbye to her father. 

For her, her day of remembrance for the child she lost comes May 2. 

“This is a journey,” she reminded the crowd in the assembly. “You guys know what that feels like on the anniversary of that loss."

Stephen Cook has provided butterflies each year with help from his students at the University of Idaho Entomology Department.  

“It makes me feel good to be able to contribute in my small way,” Cook said. “I hope that visualizing butterflies taking a message across the divide to a loved one who has passed helps.” 

He always thinks of his parents during the butterfly release.  

“It is a way for me to remember, honor and reconnect with people I have lost through the years,” Cook said.  

He hopes his students carry the importance of the event and the meaning people attribute to the butterflies into their future careers as scientists. 

As Cook released the Painted Lady butterflies, Sally Adams couldn’t contain her emotion as they flew around her and her family members, covering her mouth as she began to cry after an orange butterfly rested softly in her hair.    

“My husband and their dad and grandpa died in July last year,” she said. 

The Hayden family likes to call themselves “the original Adams family” and made sure they were there to celebrate Lowell’s life with Sally Adams.  

Lowell Adams was a man of few words, but had an icebreaker that never failed. 

“He had a dry sense of humor. He used to say, ‘Do you know how to make a hankie dance? Put a little boogie in it,’” Sally recalled.   

Susanna Stockwell had found a set of blue butterfly wings for her dog, Ollie, leading up to the ceremony to add some lightness to the day.  

“I was here for all my loved ones who have passed away,” Stockwell said. 

She couldn’t contain her tears or relief after having a special moment during the ceremony.   

“I had a butterfly land on my finger and I whispered for it to take my message to heaven. It flew up fast into the sky,” Stockwell said. 

    Katie and David Miller commemorate the passing of their daughter, Alayna, during the Community Memorial Butterfly Release in Coeur d'Alene. During the free time leading up to the ceremony, people who wanted to write a message to a loved one were encouraged to write a note on dissolvable paper and place it under the water and flowers.
  

    Anna Ruggles holds up a butterfly during a memorial release event at the Share Hope Garden in Coeur d'Alene.
  

    Susanna Stockwell holds Ollie the dog after crying during the butterfly release Tuesday night in Coeur d'Alene. Stockwell said she came to remember all of the loved ones in her family who have passed on.
  

    Bria holds up a Painted Lady butterfly during the annual Community Memorial Butterfly Release on Tuesday.
  

    Sara Jane Ruggles tells the story behind her idea for a memorial butterfly release in 2021. Since then, the event has grown as more community members share their grief with their neighbors at the Share Hope Garden.
  

    Stephen Cook releases a butterfly grown at the University of Idaho as Luke Yates performs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during a memorial butterfly release at the Share Hope Garden in Coeur d'Alene.