Four years after Rima Samman-Whitaker’s brother died of COVID-19, a group of Belmar residents and officials met last week to unveil a permanent memorial dedicated to him and others who died from the virus.
The memorial follows a modest beachside memorial that began near the site in 2021 with yellow-painted clam shell hearts and pebble stones with names written on them to remember those who died of COVID. That memorial eventually grew to include more than 3,000 names from all over the world before it was moved to a permanent location in Wall.
“It just shows how an act of kindness can do so much,” Samman-Whitaker said of people’s support when a group of strangers gathered together on the Monmouth County beach for the first memorial.
Roughly than 70 people showed up to Saturday’s unveiling of a permanent marker on a stone next to the boardwalk. They included Belmar Mayor Gerald Buccafusco, councilwomen Maria Rondinaro and Jodi Kinney, and Samman-Whitaker’s husband and co-founder of the memorial’s nonprofit group, Travis Whitaker.
Samman-Whitaker’s younger brother, Rami, died from COVID in May 2020. The family initially held off on holding a funeral, because of the stringent pandemic restrictions. So, the next January, Samman-Whitaker created Rami’s Heart, a memorial on the beach to mark her brother’s birthday.
She asked others in a Facebook support group who had lost loved ones to COVID if they wanted to join, and about 20 strangers showed up at the initial event, she said.
In May 2021, Samman-Whitaker moved the memorial of stones and shells off the beach. A few months later, the installation, called Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial, was taken to its permanent home at Allaire Community Farm, a farm based in Wall.
It was the first permanent national COVID-19 memorial, organizers said.
But, because the makeshift memorial officially left the borough, Samman-Whitaker wanted to create a new one in its place in Belmar.
Rami’s Heart COVID-19 Memorial Dedication, located on the boardwalk at Third Avenue Beach, is a large boulder meant to resemble the pebble stones included in the original memorial, said Samman-Whitaker. A plaque describing the memorial is affixed to the top of the boulder.
“This dedication stands not just as a structure but as a testament to our community’s resilience and unity,” wrote Samman-Whitaker in an invitation to the unveiling. “It marks the spot where, during the pandemic’s peak, many gathered to mourn and support one another.”
“It is here, at its original location, that we will honor that collective strength and remembrance,” she said.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
