LOWELL — A large stone under a young oak tree at the secluded top of Fort Hill Park in Lowell now bears a plaque stating, “We Remember Them.”
The stone sits at the heart of what will grow to become the Greater Lowell Garden of Peace — a quiet spot of reflection created in memory of those lost to violence. The garden will stand as a reminder of those who have been lost, as a sanctuary for their families, and as a message about what violence costs.
The garden was unveiled on Friday, Sept. 25 — the National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims.
The Greater Lowell Garden of Peace is open to the families of anyone from this area lost to violence. At the garden’s unveiling on Friday morning, 17 names were read aloud as family members gathered holding portraits of the lost.
Individual bricks surrounding the stone monument will honor the memories of Adrian Kimborowicz, Andre “Dre” Young, Anthony Luna, Calvin M. Riley, Charles J. “Chucky” McCullough, Cole Kinney, Eileen Lorrey Muldoon, Erin Belanger, Giovanni “BooBoo” Hill, Joshua Molina, Karen Ann Muscovitz, Karen Mann Leduc, Luis M. Ayala Jr., Nathaniel “Nate” Fabian, Patrick Alberto Frye, Saro Mann Sr., and Tyrone Giant Phet.
Creating a Garden of Peace in Lowell has been in the works since 2022, when Heidi Kimborowicz approached the Lowell City Council about potentially allowing some City land to be used to create a Garden of Peace similar to the one in Boston.
Kimborowicz’s son, Adrian Kimborowicz, who was murdered in 2020, is memorialized in Boston, but driving there for a moment of reflection can be challenging on a regular basis, so she wanted to create something closer to home for her family and other families nearby.
City of Lowell Community Liaison Iñeabelle Dominguez, Executive Assistant Melissa Desroches and Cultural Affairs & Special Events Assistant Director for Communications Diandra Silk helped Kimborowicz create the garden with support from the City Council and City Manager Thomas A. Golden Jr.
The site atop Fort Hill Park was appreciated by family members like Arnie Muscovitz, former organizer of the Greater Lowell chapter of Parents of Murdered Children. Muscovitz’s daughter Karen Ann was murdered in 2004.
“For a long time, families like ours have needed a place just like this,” Muscovitz said. “When you lose a child or a loved one to violence, the world can feel incredibly loud, chaotic, and isolating. You carry a grief that most people cannot fully understand. That’s why the top of Fort Hill Park is special. Up here, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, there is room to breathe.”
Melissa Mann, whose husband, Saro Mann Sr., was murdered in 2018, said the garden will give her family a place to visit and reflect and remember. Her son, Saro Mann Jr., now serves as a Lowell Police officer.
On Friday morning, the site was unveiled following a ceremony that included a prayer, a remembrance of those lost, and remarks from several surviving family members, Mayor Erik Gitschier, and Lowell Police Deputy Superintendent Mark LeBlanc.
Peggy Hassett, whose sister Eileen Muldoon was murdered in 1983, led those in attendance in a reading of a poem about remembering the lost. She said she has dreamed for 40 years about having a garden of peace in Lowell.
“I hope this garden becomes a place of comfort, reflection, love and healing — not only for my family, but for every family in the Greater Lowell area whose life has been forever changed by violence,” Heidi Kimborowicz said. “I hope this place reminds us that even in the midst of unimaginable loss, compassion and hope can still take root.”
“We must remember, as a community, the lives and families and hopes and dreams of those who have been lost to violence,” said City Manager Thomas A. Golden Jr. “By remembering their legacy and their families, perhaps we can convince just one person to forget about anger and violence, and to save just one other family from feeling the loss of those gathered here today.”
The Garden of Peace was made possible thanks to generous support from the Office of District Attorney Marian Ryan, Luz Granite, Ogonowski Farm, Greater Lowell Technical High School, the Department of Public Works and the Lowell Parks Department team at Fort Hill Park.
Anyone interested in dedicating a brick in the garden to a loved one can email gardenofpeacelowell@gmail.com or click here. To join a Greater Lowell Garden of Peace Facebook group, click here.
“For the families who have lost someone to violence, the passage of time does not erase that loss. Years and decades can pass, but they will still be deeply missed. That’s why a place like this matters,” said Deputy Superintendent LeBlanc. “The Garden of Peace gives those families something important: a place where their loved ones can be remembered, where their lives — and not the circumstances of their deaths — can be honored. This garden gives the Greater Lowell community a place to say: We remember them. Their lives mattered. Their families matter, and they have not been forgotten.”