Winchester Resident Remembers Her Family

Debra Stone-Sochat has lived in Winchester her whole life.

She used to meet her mother, sister, niece and nephew at the playground in . And on Sunday, nearly a year after the tragedy that took the lives of, 41-year-old Laura Stone Mortimer, two-year-old Charlotte Mortimer and four-year-old Thomas Mortimer V, and 64-year-old Ragna Ellen Stone, Debra was back at Ginn Field to honor her family members.

“Ginn Playground was Charlotte and Finn’s favorite park and this would have meant so much to my sister,” Stone-Sochat said.

The Ginn Playground Restoration Project, together with the Stone Family, hosted on Sunday, June 12 to of Charlotte Mortimer, Finn Mortimer, Laura Stone-Mortimer and Ragna Ellen Stone.

The event raised $15,000. Those funds from “A Race to Remember” will be used to build a memorial at Ginn Playground in honor of the deceased members of the Stone-Mortimer family.

“We’re returning the world to peace,” said Reverend Thomas Brown of the . “We’re supporting the playground, and at the same time, remembering those that have died.”

Stone-Sochat spoke to the crowd alongside her husband, and her three children – Alex, Christian and the newest addition, Ella, who was born this past Tuesday, June 7.

“I told my husband that I don’t know if I’ll ever by the woman that you married again,” Stone-Sochat said. “I’m a different person. He told me, ‘You’re going to come out and be a better person.’ And I can’t thank my children enough for their smiles everyday. It’s been a source of strength for me.”

 Also in attendance was Attorney General Martha Coakley, Assistant District Attorney, Adrienne Lynch and Winchester’s State Representative Jason Lewis.

“Today is a testament to the strength of the human spirit,” Lewis said. "There was unspeakable tragedy that happened and today, we’re honoring their memory.”

According to the BeGinn Again Foundation Chair Mary Ellen Rourke-Falvey, construction on the new playground and the Stone family monument will begin this summer and should be completed by the fall.

“This event is the culmination of years of work on behalf of the entire Winchester community to revitalize Ginn Playground. We are so pleased to be able to create a permanent memorial to the Stone family,” said Rourke-Falvey.

“This playground means so much to me,” Stone-Sochat said. “I used to come here with my family and I’m looking forward for the many years to come that I can spend time here with my own family.”