Buttermilk & Molasses

Remember Them Well: Ruby's Rain Garden

Their names may be meaningless to newcomers, but there are far too many Richmonders who remember the family of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey all too well. The family of four was brutally murdered in their home on New Year's Day of 2006, and their lives continue to be a beacon for the convergence of family, community and creativity in the Richmond region.

A new garden has been planted in the memory of the youngest Harvey; the Times-Dispatch's Michael Martz reports that the Ruby Harvey Memorial Rain Garden was "planted last week at Second Presbyterian Church in memory of a 4-year-old girl who attended preschool there."

A group of preschoolers planted flowers -- ruby-red dianthus -- in the garden, created as part of an environmentally sensitive playground and courtyard at the church in downtown Richmond. The rain garden takes its name from Ruby, who was murdered with her parents and older sister in their South Richmond home on Jan. 1, 2006.

"It was sort of a wonderful opportunity to remember somebody who was part of our day-care center," said the Rev. Alex Evans, pastor, whose church will dedicate the garden after services on April 18.

Read the whole story here.

Remember Them Well: A Memorial for the Harveys

Just four years after their brutal and tragic murder, another step is being taken to remember the family of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey. Style Weekly reports on a memorial bridge being reconstructed in Forest Hill Park:

Those gray, barren trees look skeletal against January’s overcast skies, but occasional breaks of wintry sunlight reveal a halo of softy colored tiny buds, signs of approaching spring. The same towering old trees of Forest Hill Park once shaded Stella and Ruby Harvey at play in this magical extension of their Woodland Heights backyard.

It’s been more than four years since their last happy afternoon here. The sisters, ages 9 and 4, were brutally murdered New Year’s Day 2006, along with their parents, Bryan and Kathryn, in the basement of their home on 31st Street.

The Harvey family’s friends and neighbors hope to take a step in the long healing journey with a proposal to dedicate a soon-to-be-rebuilt bridge in Forest Hill Park in honor of the family. The bridge was destroyed by Tropical Storm Gaston in 2004.

Fourth Annual Ruby's Run Set for November 8

If you were living in Richmond at the start of 2006, then you know how a significant portion of Richmond region collapsed in on itself at the news of the New Year's Day murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey.

Out of tragedy, hope.

Just ten months after their deaths, a group came together to organize the first Ruby's Run -- because even at the young age of four Ruby loved to run, and she loved to laugh.

The Fourth Annual Ruby's Run will be held on Sunday, November 8, at the Carillon Grounds in Byrd Park. Kids four to 12 can run, and all proceeds go to scholarships in Ruby Harvey's memory at Second Presbyterian Child Care Center and at Theatre IV's Children's Theatre. The races begin at 2:00 (and runners can pick their packets up at 1:00).

It is celebration time once again. In just a few short weeks, we will hold the 4th annual Ruby’s Run. For the children it is an afternoon of running around, face painting, hair painting, dressing up, climbing trees, knocking around a soccer ball, and all the fun that comes with doing that with so many other people your own size – a totally child centered event.

For us, the adults, is a time to remember and celebrate the love that Ruby and her family brought to all of our lives and to the wider Richmond community...

Years seem to fly by, yet some days seem to drag on interminably – we all know that feeling. It is hard to believe that almost four years have passed until we look around us at the kids who are growing up a little bit more each day. Some of our runners from the 2006 Ruby’s Run have “aged out” of the races, and will volunteer this year. Little ones who were infants back then will race this year for the first time.

And so it goes. We see the event as a legacy of love. I hope you do too.

If you want a reminder of what it’s all about, click on the photo links below from the 2nd and 3rd years’ races, and go the website www.rubys-run.com and click on the picture link for photos from the very first year. http://www.backlightdigital.com/Ruby2008/   www.backlightdigital.com/RubysRun/index.html (2007)

Remember Them Well: SLANTblog Remembers the Harveys

Terry Rea at SLANTblog is one of a handful of local bloggers who were compassionate and diligent about posting in the weeks and months after the murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey on New Year's Day of 2006. He pauses three years later to remember one of Richmond's most treasured families.

The Harvey Family: Remember Them Well

The above illustration by the indestructibly hopeful Jen Lemen commemorated the first anniversary of the 2006 New Year's Day murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey. Three years, and the loss is still horribly fresh.

The news trickled out on New Year's Day, and then swept the city on January 2:

Some of my first thoughts this morning, though, were about our mutual friends -- friends of mine who were much, much closer to Kathryn, Bryan and their girls.

Nikole and I went by World of Mirth this afternoon. The store, obviously, was closed. A steady rain was falling, and the sky was a heavy grey. We added our flowers to a growing carpet, and stood quietly for a few moments.

On January 7, almost 1,400 people gathered at the Byrd Theater to remember the Harvey family, and to come together to celebrate and to mourn:

We arrived at the Byrd an hour before the service. The manager announced that they would open the doors at 12:30. WTVR, the local CBS affiliate, was already there. Signs on the doors of the Byrd read: "No media. No cameras."

Nikole, Nancy and I walked down to World of Mirth. Two more large pieces of posterboard were mounted on the storefront for friends and passers-by to write thoughts, express feelings on the loss of this family. There were more flowers, more notes. And there was a computer screen in the window with footage -- one of Bryan's bands, Fat Elvis, playing in the store for a cluster of delighted children. Kathryn and Stella laughing, pointing at the camera. All three of us walked away, shivering and in tears.

Outside the Byrd, a line already had formed. We stood outside of Rostov's Coffee and Tea as the line grew, extending well around the corner past Coppola's Deli. Jason and Marni stopped to chat, then joined us in line. Richard and Elaine arrived. The doors opened.

The concession bar at the Byrd was decorated with candles, draped in color. Posters with photos of the family were mounted by the doors. A microphone stood on stage before the projection screen, and vases of flowers were clustered in the front.

And 11 months after the tragic murders, Richmond remembered the Harvey family on a crisply beautiful autumn day as 160 kids gathered together for the first annual Ruby Harvey Memorial Children's Run.

With that first run, a corner was turned. But the memories will always chase those of us who choose, to paraphrase one of Bryan's own songs, to "remember them well."

Remember Them Well: Running for Ruby, and Richmond

One of the few bright linings that has emerged after the murder of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey on New Year's Day of 2006 is the annual Ruby's Run memorial children's run. The annual event is not just a celebration of the Harvey family -- it is a celebration of the children in our community.



The Ruby Harvey Memorial Children's Run returns to the Carillon at Byrd Park on Sunday, November 9:

When we announced the very first Ruby's Run in the fall of 2006, we had no idea what to expect. None of us had ever done anything like this before. We were running on faith that people might like a way for their young families to participate in a positive community event, and with the strong determination that as the first anniversary of the Harvey family tragedy approached, they would be remembered in celebration of their lives, and not on how we lost them.

Bryan, through his music, was known and respected by many people around the world. He went to school here, and was a fixture and innovator in the local music scene for decades. When he went to work for Henrico County public schools, he developed a whole new group of admirers. It wasn't the music that got their attention, just Bryan being Bryan.

Kathy brought her creative energy and her wonderful sense of irony, mischief and fun to the building of her popular business in Carytown. She was also a relentless advocate for the growth and improvement of the Carytown business district, and garnered the admiration and respect of the business community throughout the Richmond area with her efforts. In her hometown of Virginia Beach she is well remembered by schoolmates, neighbors, and the friends of her youth.

In the midst of all these accomplishments, Bryan and Kathy didn't just juggle their roles as parents; they dedicated themselves to creating a loving and nurturing environment for their children. And they suceeded - beautifully.

Stella was a live wire. Everything with her was full speed ahead. She greeted every day, and every activity, with the kind of vigor which causes adults to shake our heads in amazement and wishing we had half as much, as we wonder out loud... "wouldn't you love to be able to bottle that?" No one who ever met Stella during her nine years will ever forget her.

Which brings us to Ruby, who was with us for only four and half years.

Ruby's story is told on the run's website, which also has all of the details you'll need to register your kids for the event -- or to make plans to come and cheer for the runners on November 9.

In addition to the scholarship fund supported by Ruby's Run, The Community Foundation manages an endowment established in memory of the family.

Remembering the Harveys: SLANTblog HoF Interview

Over at SLANTblog, Terry has a brief post and video link to an interview he did in 1990 with Brian Harvey and Johnny Hott during their House of Freaks days.

At the time, Bryan and Johnny were kind enough to come on a low-budget local cable television program that I produced and hosted, to sit for questions. Naturally, we worked nothing out in advance. As always, we took phone calls from viewers ... it was all live.

This clip is part of a half-hour segment of the interview on what was known as Mondo City.

Remembering the Harveys: A Crack in the Sidewalk

It has been more than two years since the senseless murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey in their South Richmond home. Not long after the New Year's Day slayings in 2006, filmmaker Kris Kristensen produced a documentary commemorating the impact of Bryan Harvey's music. A synopsis of Kristensen's documentary, "Crack in the Sidewalk," reads:

Artists can impact strangers so deeply that they feel they've lost a personal friend when they die. On New Year's Day, little-know musician, Bryan Harvey made national news. The frontman of the 80's rock-duo House Of Freaks was brutally murdered along with his family in their home.  To most of the world this was simply a sensational headline, but for those who treasured Harvey's music, a part of themselves was extinguished.

Kristensen lives in Seattle, where he operates Scotopia Pictures. He wrote me a few months after the murders in reference to his documentary:

The documentary is a short, which was commissioned by the Seattle International Film Festival, and we had a very small window in which to complete the project.

We finished our rough cut on Friday, and tie up all the loose ends this week.  I'm very proud of the film, and think it's a very moving reflection of Bryan and what he meant to many who didn't know him, but were touched by him.

"A Crack in the Sidewalk" is now available for viewing in its entirety at the Internet Movie Database.

The Harvey Family: TD Reports on Woodland Heights Neighborhood

The Times-Dispatch ran an article this morning remembering Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey two years after the family was murdered in their Richmond home on New Year's Day, and looking at how their Woodland Heights neighborhood has moved on from the tragic events of 2006.

The Harvey Family: Remember Them Well

Two years ago today, the whole of Richmond wept. Take a moment today to remember Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey.