Memorial remembers victim of May 4

A memorial service for Jim Russell will be held at 7:30 p.m. today in the Kiva. Russell was wounded at Kent State on May 4, 1970. He died of a heart attack at his Deer Island, Ore., home June 23.

Stephanie Vincent, president of the May 4 Task Force, said some of the other wounded students will speak, then open up the floor to discussion.

Also, a slideshow and video of Russell’s last May 4 commemoration speech in 2007 will be shown.

A candlelight procession to the May 4 memorial will follow the event.

Nelda Pelosi, Russell’s widow, and their daughter, Becka Russell, will come to the memorial from Oregon.

Even though they’ve already had a memorial service at home, Becka Russell said the Kent State memorial is an opportunity for people in Ohio to remember him.

“He was just an amazing person all over,” she said. “Everything he did he just put his whole self into and was so excited.”

Russell’s family is sponsoring a golf outing on Sunday to fund a scholarship for an art student in Russell’s memory. Russell was a fine arts major at Kent State.

The May 4 Task Force is sponsoring the event.

Kiera Manion-Fischer