Orlando service remembers homeless when others didn't

Orlando service remembers homeless when others didn't
Orlando Sentinel - Orlando,FL,USA
Kate Santich | Sentinel Staff Writer
December 18, 2008
They left this life without a home but not without making a mark. Among them were an accountant, a former social worker, a decorated Vietnam veteran, a man who could never cope with the tragic death of his twin brother.

Of the 24 homeless people who died in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties during the past year, two were nameless -- authorities unable to identify their bodies. One had been hit by a car as he shuffled his meager belongings across a road in darkness. Another was murdered inside his tent in a homeless camp in the woods.

The lucky ones had a mourner or two among the half-empty pews Wednesday morning at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. There, a memorial ceremony was held in their honor -- an event mirrored in 125 cities across the country this week to coincide with the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year.

One man whose name was read was known only as "Cigar Bill." As with many of the departed, the details of his life are largely lost after too many setbacks, too many losses, too many problems that piled up until most of the vestiges of civilization had fallen away.
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