# data[].attributes.body
I could not face my grief. I cried myself to sleep for months. It was hard to fall asleep. I was haunted by images in my mind. I was alone. I was sad. I never learned how to grieve. I thought it was mine alone to face. I did not know how to connect to others in my grief. I was struggling to let light into the dark recesses of my brain. My thoughts were morbid, tainted, destructive. I did mushrooms one winter night. I was not prepared. I was snuggling with my husband, lying on top of him, feeling safe and relaxed. We had just been laughing about something that a sober mind probably would have found inane and ridiculous. My mind flashed to Kyle and in an instant, before my conscious mind could react, a black hole opened on my husband's chest. When I was sober I could turn away from my depth of my grief, but now I was falling into the black hole. The gravity was immense. I was powerless against it. I sobbed uncontrollably. I was in the grip of the darkest force I have ever experienced. I was surrounded by it, consumed by it, I thought it would go on forever and ever, the darkness both expanding infinitely and contracting into the darkest little corner. I feared being trapped by it, but the darkness didn't last forever as I feared. I found myself on the other side of it, able to see it and feel it, but not be forever lost in it. I was safely held in my grief. I emerged with a determination to honor the light and joy of my friendship with Kyle, not the terror and darkness. I honestly don't think I would have ever allowed myself my grief. I wonder if I had not been swallowed by darkness and emerged on the other side, if the darkness would have continued to slowly spread like a virus, dampening my ability to feel profoundly the love that I received from Kyle. Wherever you are on your grief journey, however you grieve, I hope you are safely held and I hope that you can travel through the darkness to reclaim the light, joy, and power that will allow you to fully honor our dear friend on your journey through life.

# data[].attributes.headline
Rare Bird Art Tree in the Reid Campus Center + Steven's Gallery Exhibition

# data[].attributes.subject
Rare Bird Art Tree in the Reid Campus Center + Steven's Gallery Exhibition

# data[].attributes.body
Wanted to make sure that folks who visit this page can see the amazing work that has grown from our mutual love and remembrance of Kyle

-Colleen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rare Birds Dedication September 28th 2024

# data[].attributes.body
While visiting Monterey CA recently, I came across a little spot which I thought was perfect for a little tribute, a piece of land jutting out over the beach. A little tribute to a life well lived

# data[].attributes.body
I used to make Kyle cards and dinky little trinkets for his birthday since he never wanted my broke-college-student-ass to pay for things. Fair enough. I made him a card this year. Here's to another year Kyle. You may not be here to celebrate it, but that doesn't mean we're going to forget it.

Also I can see him scoffing in mock-insult at being called 'dude' because I used to say it all the time and he would give me the EYES, like, 'child I am your ELDER, don't call me DUDE.'

# data[].attributes.body
...is a special day. Forty years ago today you came into this world. I have been forever changed by both your presence and your absence. I am better for knowing you. I am better for knowing the people who loved you, and gosh there are SO MANY. Your love was so big and the love we feel for you is so big and it goes on an on and on. I loved the story your mother told me...that basically, you were born this way...a generous, loving spirit...that at your birthdays you would give your own birthday presents away to see the joy that it brought to others. Your love and friendship are such incredible gifts. Thank you for giving them so freely.

# data[].attributes.body
One of the things I will miss eternally about Kyle is his wit, snark and grumpy personality. I didn't know he was equally competitive, and was a great trash-talker in the lead up to this social for international students in 2018. I wish I had more photos but I will remember the good times. Every time I closed his office door in Reid to share Whitman gossip. Enjoying sushi and Marvel films. Getting a taste of his humor while playing Cards against humanity during Halloween game nights. He was immensely loved and his impact will continue to live on.

Funmi Oyekunle

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kyle & Me at Whitman International Orientation- August 23, 2018

# data[].attributes.body
This mug, I gave it to him when he took over from Kris Barry, and he was excited because it was his first time getting a gift from an international student as the official person in that position. He used it throughout my time at Whitman and after he was taken from us, the IC office mailed it to me. I planted a snake plant baby and then it had three more babies, I call it the Kyle plant, it has travelled with me from Connecticut, Boston, and it kept Kuenzang and I safe as we drove across the country. Kyle plant is now a California surfer babe. I think he’d giggle at that.

# data[].attributes.body
Sad to say, Kyle's tree was accidentally removed by Whitman during a construction project. We're working on what might happen next...

# data[].attributes.headline
Donate to the Kyle Martz International Student Scholarship Endowment 

# data[].attributes.subject
Donate to the Kyle Martz International Student Scholarship Endowment 

# data[].attributes.body
You visited me in a dream. I was so happy to see you that I woke up crying. I hope to see you again.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Being what one could label a 'high-profile,' openly gay man at Whitman College has been a lesson in the complexities of diversity, tolerance and the differences between ideology and lived practice. I have found Whitman to be one of the easiest places to be queer-identified, or as I like to put it, "hypothetically queer." At the same time, I have also learned what it means to be tokenized on this campus, to be seen more as a poster child for the post-modern, supposedly tolerant liberal world than as an actual person.

In order to understand the above statements, a couple of things about the state of GLBTQ affairs at Whitman should be noted. The queer community at this college is, contrary to what many people have intimated to me, quite small and fractured. There is not a lot of cohesion or visibility in the Whitman GLBTQ community, nor is there much in the way of tangible queer sexuality on campus.

I believe that part of the reason for this disconnected community is that it is easy enough for queer students to find acceptance within a straight, mainstream social group that they do not feel the need to connect with other queers. I also believe it is due to feeling uncomfortable with openly displaying their sexuality in front of those people who have accepted them as friends. For example, of all the queer couples currently on this campus with whom I am acquainted, none of them ever publicly show their affection for one another or demonstrate their status as a couple.
Same-Sex handholding on this campus is nonexistent, even on Same-sex Handholding Day.

Most of the queers I know would feel uncomfortable being visibly queer in front of the public at large on campus, and that leads me to my second point about GLBTQ life here: Though most students at this school are ideologically quite liberal and accepting of GLBTQ people, most that I know are quite unacquainted and inexperienced with actual queer people. They may support the idea of gay marriage, but when I have been physically affectionate with another man on campus, it has invariably caused quite a flurry of attention and excitement among those around me. People just are not used to seeing it or being around it, and it is, regardless of their political beliefs, quite odd and new for them; it's "queer" for them, if I may make a bad pun. In that way, a queer Whittie learns what it means to be tokenized.

Throughout my entire freshmen year (and actually to this day), people have approached me with questions about my sexuality, wanting to hear 'my story,' wanting my opinion on the state of their sexuality and the questions it creates, and wanting me to act as a spokesperson for all GLBTQ people everywhere. While I certainly do not mind sharing my life experience in the interest of educating others, I cannot speak for all non-heternormative people, and the expectation that I can and should clearly demonstrates the lack of knowledge, experience and familiarity that much of the Whitman community has with queer people.

We are not all the same and my experience is a combination of many things, not just a result of being gay. Also, my sexuality has been the subject of more conversations with more people on this campus than my background, religion, personal beliefs and practices put together; my gayness is of more interest to the general public than my personhood. At least, that is my impression after nearly four years within 'the Bubble.'

That said, I am not attempting to admonish the Whitman community or complain that we queer people are not accepted here. I think the experiences I have had are typical symptoms of any minority experience in a largely homogenous, insulated environment: which accurately defines the Whitman College community, in my opinion. I would like to see that change someday, but I find it more important that all of us remember that people are people first, regardless of our minority or demographic status, and that one should never make assumptions before doing their homework.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ã¢â‚¬Å"I cannot speak for all non-heteronormative people"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Kyle Martz GUEST WRITER Being what one could label a 'high-profile,' openly gay man at Whitman College has been a lesson in the complexities of diversity, tolerance and the differences between ideology and lived practice. I have found Whitman to be one of the easiest places to be queer-identified, or as I like to...

# data[].attributes.headline
A Hero, Family, and a Captain to this Kid

# data[].attributes.subject
A Hero, Family, and a Captain to this Kid

# data[].attributes.body
This is going to be long but Kyle can't be described in a few words, more like volumes. Note also despite my best efforts I have yet to find a photo of us together, yet I will continue to try. The song playing is the one I played on repeat during my grief, and speaks to how I saw Kyle, that of a role model to look up to "And though I cried, I was so proud to love a man so rare".

I wasn't planning on being out at Whitman, and let you know I was queer but silent. The support you gave me gave me the courage to come out, and through every single step of my Whitman journey you were there being that rock I needed. When I came out, when I got the David Nord Award, and when I joined Theta as a transwoman you were always there cheering me on in the most Kyle way possible.

However, the single thing I hold onto more than anything is that every time you would pass the Reid info desk when I was working, even if you were rushing somewhere, you always always took a moment to say "Hello Dear". The last time I said to you was a promise to get coffee when I came back.

The day I found out I couldn't do anything but wander aimlessly, finding myself at 1am in a 24 hr donut shop with a cup of coffee that I never touched. I watched Maxx speak while I was dressed in black in New London, CT, crying all over again. When I came back to Whitman in February of 2020, making the 24 hour + journey from New London CT, It was because I had to be there for you. When I got into graduate school while there, I couldn't help but think that you might've played a role in influencing them from whatever is beyond to have me get into the next chapter while returning to Whitman. Even when I came back recently for my 5th College reunion, your name came up often and on Saturday night, when all the events had ended, I found myself in the backyard of the GAC at your tree to remind you I have not forgotten you, bringing with me a few stones from LA to place there, similar to the sand I carried from New London.

Kyle you might've put on that exterior of the grumpy uncle, but deep inside the people who you inspired weren't just anyone to you, they were your people, and you'd anything to protect them. I know that you would say that you don't deserve all of this in the humble way you were, but deep down I know you would be honored that in the moment of finding out, every single person for whom you helped or even interacted with, and even to those that just knew people who knew you.

My last note speaks to these sentiments. My big in theta, Lauren Rhodes, watched and listened as I cried to her and just described what a beautiful person you were, and how there was still a part of me that wanted this nightmare to be over. I stayed with her when I came to visit in February, and as such she got to see in person the effect you had on me, despite not knowing you herself. When Lauren graduated in 2021, she was the commencement speaker and as such practiced her speech with me. She included a passage that talked about you from the perspective of someone who knew of people that knew you, likely myself for a fair bit of it. I cried each time I heard it, and had to pause the commencement when she spoke of you as I had to take a moment. For those that haven't seen it, the passage starts at minute 55, and 27 seconds in the 2021 commencement, and is worth a watch.

I miss you, everything about you, every single thing, every single day. Thank you for being in my life Kyle, I wouldn't be me without your gift of you just being you.

-Colleen, Leather Queer

# data[].attributes.body
This is the original, non-edited version of the eulogy, basically, that I wrote for Kyle at his memorial service at Whitman College. I'm just sticking this here for people to read and then watch (there's a link to the video of the memorial for those who may not have gotten to go in 2019) and then a link to the fundraiser for the art installation. I'm just hoping that it inspires people to give and to show how much they love him, even still, almost four and a half years since his death.

Live long and prosper, y'all. - Maxx

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This piece was originally written in September of 2019 and read as an edited speech on 18 September 2019 at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA during a memorial service for Kyle Martz. Kyle Martz, photo courtesy of Harmony Burright I have 6-10 minutes, which is hard, because how can you fit a whole…

# data[].attributes.body
Please consider making a financial contribution to help us fund a visual tribute to Kyle on Whitman Campus. We have commissioned a local artist and Whitman alum who gives new life to found objects. This piece will be titled "All the Rare Birds." Any funds that remain after commissioning the work of art will be used to support organizations and causes that Kyle dedicated his life to.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We lost our dear friend too soon and too suddenly and a team of Kyle's friends are on a journey to remember and celebrate him. This fundraiser will primarily be used to commission a work of art from a local artist, Daniel Forbes, to celebrate Kyle's memory on or near the Whitman College campus in Walla Walla. Funds raised will be used to pay for the artist and artist's assistants, including time and materials and other costs associated with the art installation. Any funds above and beyond what is needed for the art installation will be used in the following ways 1) Organize and host events to coincide with Kyle's 40th birthday, which would have been on March 27, 2024 (the birthday celebration will happen in concert with the art installation), 2) Donate to charities and organizations that Kyle supported to keep fighting the good fight (support for immigrants and refugees, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others), 3) Contribute to the Kyle Martz memorial scholarship for international students at Whitman, 4) Create and maintain a website to remember Kyle and keep us connected, 5) Find other creative ways to celebrate Kyle's memory. We welcome you to share a memory of Kyle on this online memory wall: http://www.memories.kylemartz.com/. Please reach out with your own ideas - anything that will bring healing and joy into your life - we want to help you make it a reality. You can join the community of people working together to remember and celebrate Kyle by sending an email to: community -at- kylemartz.com.

Read more

Donations (2)

Become an early supporter

Your donation matters

Raised $50 from 1 donation

This team raised $100 from 1 other donation.

Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

Easy

Donate quickly and easily.

Powerful

Send help right to the people and causes you care about.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Remembering and Celebrating Kyle Martz, organized by Harmony Burright

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We lost our dear friend too soon and too suddenly and a team of Kyle's friend... Harmony Burright needs your support for Remembering and Celebrating Kyle Martz

# data[].attributes.body
Kyle and I met at Whitman, enjoying many long conversations about queer culture, queer theory, and queer joy. We were good friends with Bob Tobin and enjoyed such beautiful evenings connecting. I was always stunned by Kyle’s beauty, inside and out, and how he wielded it with kindness, open mindedness and care. There were only a few of us in those years who were out & proud in Walla Walla, and having Kyle in my corner helped me to exist openly and confidently in my queer body. Kyle seemed to have a confidence that outpaced his years when I met him at what, 19? 20? I would be so lucky to know anyone like him again in this life or the next. I keep Kyle in my heart and he is one of the many Queer Ancestors who inspire my life and work.

# data[].attributes.headline
Kyle helped build so many good things for Whitman, including for first gen and working class students like himself - his legacy will live on in the supportive environment that students find at Whitman

# data[].attributes.subject
Kyle helped build so many good things for Whitman, including for first gen and working class students like himself - his legacy will live on in the supportive environment that students find at Whitman

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While most Whitman College students come from upper and middle class families where at least one parent has graduated from college, a growing population of first-generation college students attends Whitman. The current first-year class has the largest number of first-generation students that Whitman has ever seen. This trend is accompanied by improved administrative involvement in promoting conversations about cultural and socioeconomic diversity.

First-generation students experience Whitman through a different lens, often feeling like there is nobody else they can relate to or willing to hear their story.

Alumnus Kyle Martz graduated from Whitman in 2007 and now works as the interim program adviser for the Intercultural Center. As a first-generation college student himself, he is impressed by how far the campus has come in generating a network of support for first-generation students.

"Being gay [at Whitman] was not hard, [but] being a first-generation college student was very hard here," said Martz.

As a response to the difficulties of first-generation students, the First Generation and Working Class Club was founded in 2002 as a list of about 30 faculty members willing to mentor students who self-identify as first-generation and working class. This list continues to grow today, now standing at 47 faculty members.

In fall 2003, the admissions office created their first annual reception for first-years with a working class background as part of fall orientation. Now, the FGWC reception during fall orientation is facilitated by the FGWC co-leaders and the adviser of the club, Professor of History Julie Charlip. Director of Fall Orientation and Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell works to reflect the values of FGWC throughout orientation with programming like Voices of Whitman.

"[Voices] is meant to crack open the door as a first look into the fact that you have come to this campus and you are going to encounter people who are different from you and you have to be open to those conversations," said Maxwell.

In 2007, Charlip spent five days traveling with Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland and others to explore what peer institutions have accomplished on diversity issues. Cleveland was inspired by a facility at Colorado College called the "Glass House," which houses 30 students and focuses on developing a safe and supportive community for them.

"They called it the Glass House because a lot of students say that no matter what they do, they feel like other people are looking at them because they stand out. That's what planted the seed for the Glover Alston Center," said Cleveland.

The Glover Alston Center was established in 2010 to be a safe space where multicultural clubs, including FGWC, could meet and interact.

FGWC has evolved into a resource for first-generation students not only to share their personal experiences with each other, but also to attempt to initiate campus-wide conversation about what it means to be an FGWC student at Whitman.

Cleveland was interested in the group because of his own experience as a first-generation and working class student.

"I'm decades older than these students, but I can put myself right back in their place and remember what it was like in the insecurities and the fear that I had about going to school," said Cleveland.

Cleveland's father was a railroad worker and his mother worked from home. He started at the University of Minnesota and remembers orientation as one of the worst experiences of his life. He thought that he was supposed to pick classes for the entirety of his four years, so he stayed up until 3 a.m. planning his schedule. There was no one there to guide him.

"I didn't know how to do research in a library, I had never been in an art museum, [and] I had never gone to a concert. I had never heard classical music. That may not seem like much, but there's a cultural capital there that you don't have that everyone around you seems to understand, and so you pretend," said Cleveland.

The climate on campus has improved since Cleveland first arrived, but there is still work to be done, he said.

Recent administrative efforts to support the celebration of diverse backgrounds include the Power and Privilege Symposium, the addition of a counselor experienced with historically marginalized groups and the hiring of an associate dean of diversity and intercultural affairs, who will start next fall.

"We are not where we need to be yet. We need to do a better job of educating students, faculty and staff about what it means to be in the majority, and what it means to live in a diverse community," said Cleveland.

Hiring for the new associate dean of diversity position started with 60 applicants and eventually narrowed down to a final four, who were invited to campus to give presentations and meet with faculty, students and staff. The final decision will likely be made during the early part of May.

Whoever receives the position will work with the community to develop a strategic plan on diversity. Though faculty, staff, students and administrators have identified some of the responsibilities they want to see in this new dean of diversity, they also recognize these are subject to change.

"It is a brand new position, [so] the job is going to evolve. It could change as that person identifies things that are just as important to take on," said Cleveland.

The new dean of diversity will be forced to balance acting as a resource for Whitman students while simultaneously educating the campus as a whole. Some fear that the position won't lend itself to personal interaction with students.

"How much time will they have with students as opposed to institutional research and development initiatives? I work in student affairs, so I have a bias that I want this person to be able to work with students and advocate for students as much as possible," said Interim Director of the Intercultural Center Matt Ozuna.

First-generation Whitman student Lionel Valdez* reiterated this concern.

"I would like to see a welcoming person to minority students, and being there, being supportive and encouraging of all student needs. I think that's really needed here, especially for minority students," he said.

Leaders on campus and across the country recognize the importance of promoting collective conversations instead of reducing diversity to a single elite position. A Stanford University report released this month revealed that simply facilitating discussions about social-class backgrounds reduced the achievement gap between first-generation and continuing-generation college students by up to 63 percent.

Cleveland and Charlip hope that by adding the position, the college will be inspired to create new innovative solutions and not pretend to have solved the problem all at once.

"No single person can really take on the whole issues surrounding diversity, but I hope that with this position, faculty and students will begin to feel motivated and encouraged to begin talking about these issues and finding meaningful ways of addressing them," said Charlip.
*Name has been changed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
College Provides More Support For FGWC Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The current first-year class has the largest number of first-generation students that Whitman has ever seen, a trend accompanied by increasing administrative involvement in promoting conversations about socioeconomic diversity.

# data[].attributes.headline
Kyle LOVED the students he supported and the work that he did and he was SO GOOD at it

# data[].attributes.subject
Kyle LOVED the students he supported and the work that he did and he was SO GOOD at it

# data[].attributes.body
"Administering such a program puts us in a minority group of colleges and universities that help their international community integrate in such a way," said International Student and Scholar Adviser Kyle Martz, who coordinated the program from 2015 to 2017 under that role. "As someone who had exchange students at home in high school, and who later became one himself, I think these types of intercultural relationships are very important, both for overcoming culture shock and successfully completing the cultural adjustment process."

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/59861819/whitman-college-winter-2018

# data[].attributes.headline
Wish we could have listened to Fiona's latest album together...Fetch the Bolt Cutters

# data[].attributes.subject
Wish we could have listened to Fiona's latest album together...Fetch the Bolt Cutters

# data[].attributes.body
You were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth...you were born with bolt cutters, my friend.

"I grew up in the shoes they told me I could fill
Shoes that were not made for running up that hill
And I need to run up that hill
I need to run up that hill, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Official Audio)

# data[].attributes.body
I'll be seeing you
In all the old familiar places
That this heart of mine embraces
All day through

In that small cafe
The park across the way
The children's carousel
The chestnut trees
The wishing well

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day
In everything that's light and gay
I'll always think of you that way

I'll find you in the morning sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you

I'll be seeing you
In every lovely summer's day
In everything that's light and gay
I'll always think of you that way

I'll find you in the morning sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you

# data[].attributes.headline
I listened to Fiona Apple's "When the Pawn..." on a long drive... and thought of you

# data[].attributes.subject
I listened to Fiona Apple's "When the Pawn..." on a long drive... and thought of you

# data[].attributes.body
I remember driving to Wallula Gap with you in your little blue Toyota (I had car envy). We smoked cigarettes and talked about love and life and family and how lonely we were. Despite being widely recognized neither one of us felt "well known."  I made fun of you for being so promiscuous and you made fun of me for being such a prude. You were shocked - SHOCKED - I was still a virgin: "Listen, if I looked like you I'd be having sex every night." I wanted to bottle up that confidence and take a swig when I needed it. While driving, windows down, wind in our faces, Fiona Apple's "When the Pawn..." was on repeat. Sometimes, mid sentence one of us would just burst into song. We couldn't help it. Fiona Apple is JUST THAT GOOD. I resisted listening for a long time. This summer I sang it at the top of my lungs and I cried and I smiled and I thought of you.

"I was staring at the sky, just looking for a star
To pray on, or wish on or something like that
I was having a sweet fix of a daydream of a boy
Whose reality, I knew, was a hopeless to be had

But then the dove of hope began its downward slope
And I believed for a moment that my chances were
Approaching to be grabbed, but as it came down near, so did a weary tear
I thought it was a bird, but it was just a paper bag"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fiona Apple - Paper Bag (Official Video)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memorial Service for Kyle Martz: Since 2015, Kyle served as Whitman’s international student and s...

# data[].attributes.headline
03.27.23 Happy birthday my fellow fire hearted Aries

# data[].attributes.subject
03.27.23 Happy birthday my fellow fire hearted Aries

# data[].attributes.body
Kyle, I loved you like a brother. There was a closeness with you that was immediate and lasting. A deep trust. You always saw the best in me when I couldn't see it in myself. You stood up for me when I wouldn't stand up for myself. You celebrated me even when I didn't see anything worth celebrating. I wish that you could have seen yourself and loved yourself the way that all of us saw and loved you. I loved your fire, how hot it burned. I loved that you always fed my own fire, never sought to dampen it. You knew that the world you wanted to see wouldn't be born from politeness, it would be born from a radical, loving, critical honesty. You faced it all with humility and humor. You are special beyond measure. I miss you every day. Happy birthday my fiery friend. I'll do my best to keep the fire burning in your absence. - Harmony Burright

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The organizers of Friday night's downtown vigil could not have predicted what the event would come to represent - outrage, hope and an unexpected farewell.

Members of Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, Walla Walla Progressives, Democratic Socialists of America, the YWCA and other groups came together earlier this summer to plan a public and reflective time for immigrants' plights as part of a global movement known as "Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps," intended to bring thousand of people to locations around the world to protest inhumane conditions faced by migrants.

Lights for Liberty is a coalition of multiple people dedicated to human rights and the principles behind democracy, according to its website. Friday's vigils, which took place in cities large and small, were intended to unify people in support of stopping what they see as the atrocities happening in "concentration camps," as they call them, along America's southern borders and elsewhere.

"Across this country, we have witnessed acts against people fleeing persecution many of us thought we would never see in modern times," Lights for Liberty founders say on the group's mission statement.

In Washington state, 38 such vigils were planned, Heritage Park here among those.

Kyle Martz would have surely been one of the 200 or so in attendance, said Walla Walla vigil spokeswoman Emily Anderson.

Martz, 35, was murdered July 8 in his Fourth Avenue home, according to police. While everyone in Walla Walla appears to be reeling from the circumstances surrounding his death, those most involved with Martz's life are struggling hard with the hole left by his absence, according to news stories and social media postings.

That is "absolutely true" for members of Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, or WWIRC, Anderson said Friday.

The group was birthed three years ago in a committment to build and protect a welcoming community for immigrants and their advocates. WWIRC works with law enforcement and other officials to make Walla Walla a safe pace for immigrants, operates a hotline for immigration questions and provides financial, legal and other help for immigrant families.

Martz, who graduated from and then worked at Whitman College, was on board with the coalition from the start, according to other members.

"He was a very involved member," Anderson said, noting that night's vigil was a fitting way to honor Martz.

"We starting planning this weeks ago and could have never foreseen this," she said.

"We've been thinking about the dual feelings of the vigil, the passionate cause and then what happened to Kyle."

As planned, Friday evening began with song, poetry and essays as Heritage Park on Main Street continued to fill. From those with mobility devices - walkers to strollers - to young adults and knots of family, people hugged as they met up, many wiping away tears after embracing.

Luminarias lined the space where park meets sidewalk, bearing names, ages and country of origin of some of the people who have died in detention custody of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Included were Mariee Juarez, 19 months old, from Guatemala, and Kamyar Samimi, age 69, from Iran.

Several attendees hoisted signs - "There is no them, JUST US," "We Are a Nation of Immigrants" and "Babies Need Their Mommies," were on a few; one simply said "Close The Camps."

Here and there people leaned against the two walls of Heritage Park, illustrated with images of Walla Walla's past. In those, Chinese American and African American children peer into long-ago cameras. An Asian American family participates in the city's 1912 Fourth of July parade. Native Americans wore tribal vestments captured in sepia tones, and Latino and Anglo Americans toil in agricultural fields - representation of the diversity of cultures that built the town.

In English and Spanish, speakers encouraged unity and action in the quest to give today's immigrants humane treatment and opportunities to contribute to the land they aspire to live in.

That is exactly what Kyle Martz wanted, too, speaker Rachel Elfenbein said.

"Most of the weeks of the year Kyle volunteered to be on call with the Walla Walla Immigrant rights Coalition to support immigrants and refugees in crisis. He did so eagerly and earnestly, without fanfare," she told her somber-faced audience.

"He never asked for credit for his volunteer work, because he knew the work was not about him, it was about uplifting those who he served."

Martz, Elfenbein said, should be a model going forward.

"I want to challenge all of us here to be like Kyle Martz - we need thousands of Kyles in this struggle to uphold the dignity of immigrants and refugees in the Americas."

The sudden death of Martz has torn a hole in the fabric of the community, said The Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg of First Congregational Church.

"So this is a tremendous loss."

As it is for the immigrants who benefitted from Martz's work and from all Walla Walla immigrant advocates do, Elfenbein said.

His death, however, can knit the community closer together in its pain over Martz's death and in his honor, she said.

After the vigil, Anderson said the night had provided her a chance to meet a lot of new people, all of whom she'd like to encourage to become involved in the cause.

"Kyle was in the rapid response team, he was boots on the ground. But people can get involved in many ways," she said, ticking off social services, communications and finances as examples.

And while Walla Walla County has not yet experienced a surge in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, the coalition is bracing for it, Anderson said.

For more information about Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, go to wwirc.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The organizers of Friday night's downtown vigil could not have predicted what the event would come to represent - outrage, hope and an unexpected farewell.

# data[].attributes.headline
Picture and plaque at the Glover Alston Center at Whitman College

# data[].attributes.subject
Picture and plaque at the Glover Alston Center at Whitman College

# data[].attributes.headline
The Gingko tree planted in Kyle's honor at the Glover Alston Center (GAC) - bring a rock next time you visit

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gingko tree planted in Kyle's honor at the Glover Alston Center (GAC) - bring a rock next time you visit

# data[].attributes.body
Sad to say, Kyle's tree was accidentally removed by Whitman during a construction project. We're working on what might happen next...

# data[].attributes.headline
The Gingko tree planted in Kyle's honor at the Glover Alston Center

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gingko tree planted in Kyle's honor at the Glover Alston Center

# data[].attributes.body
Sad to say, Kyle's tree was accidentally removed by Whitman during a construction project. We're working on what might happen next...