(Archive May 2018) An Empty Place at the Table

By Alexa Nogueira | Observer Contributor

YWCA(formerly “Young Women’s Christian Association”) Domestic Violence Services arranged a display on April 2 to serve as a remembrance of those who have been victims of domestic violence. 

The display remained up for the remainder of the week and can be found in the Arthur F. Haley Academic Center.

According to the YWCA, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. But for every story we hear about the victims of domestic violence, there is a seat left empty at the dinner table that no one talks about. This display is a tribute to those who have lost their lives to domestic violence within the past year in Massachusetts and shows seats at the table that have been left behind. 

An Empty Place at the Table began in October 1993 at the Lackawanna County courthouse. It was started by Peg Ruddy, director of the Women’s Resource Center, and Jane Kopas, a  volunteer, who both wanted to memorialize victims of domestic violence after the deaths of Phyllis Mashie, Cindy Marshalek, and Sheena Marie Jones. Ruddy and Kopas were inspired to create An Empty Place at the Table by The Dinner Party, an artwork by Judy Chicago which represents women neglected in history, The Quilt Project, which memorializes victims of AIDS, and A Place at the Table by Edith Konecky, which examines mental illness. The image of the Table symbolizes the experience that is shared among victims of domestic violence, regardless of their age, race, or ethnicity. 

Each victim of domestic violence had their place at the table and in society, which is now left empty. An Empty Place at the Table serves as the visual which shows how domestic violence homicides change the family table and the community as a whole. 

Beside the display the YWCA also has a stand with information cards and bookmarks that visitors can take with them. 

Visitors of the display can also give anonymous feedback by filling out one of the forms on the stand and depositing it into the purple box.

There are 22 empty places at the table, each set to honor the following victims: 

• Corrina Santiago, 42, of Fitchburg 
• Sonia Rios, 42, of Leominster 
• David Carlson, 54, of Worcester 
• Leah Penny, 31, of Malden
• Nicole White, 44, of Lowell 
• Celeste Kordana, 39, of Pittsfield 
• Joseph Shaw, 44, of Brockton
• Scott Benoit, 52, of Brockton
• Collin Edwards, 37, of Roxbury 
• Eugenia Gomes Monteiro, 30, of Brockton 
• Amanda Glover, 48, of Wendell
• Maria Morton, 32, of Lawrence 
• Delilah Santiago, 18, of Holyoke 
• Joanne Ringer, 39, of Clarksburg 
• Mary “Molly” Fratantonio, 35, of Cotuit 
• Kristina Reis, 36, of Fall River 
• Aracelys Valdez Deleon, 40, of Lowell 
• Juan Roman, 45, of New Bedford
• Michele Clarke, 33, of Weymouth 
• Vanessa MacCormack, 30, of Revere 
• Anthony “Tony” Scaccia, 6, of Foxboro
• Brenda Hatheway, 43, of Webster