Linda Harris VIGIL PLANNED — Friends comfort Gail Worrels, center, as she discusses why Sunday’s “Stop the Violence” vigil at Fort Steuben Park is so important. Worrels, whose son was gunned down in a drive-by shooting while he waited for a friend who had called him for a ride home, said it’s a chance to “come together as a community and support each other.”

STEUBENVILLE — Sometimes all it takes is hearing a snippet of a song for a too-short lifetime of memories to come flooding back, Gail Worrels said.

Worrels’ son, Quentin Worrels Nelson, was gunned down 14 years ago in downtown Steubenville. There had been a party that night and a friend had called him for a ride home. Quentin, who made it a point to help others, didn’t hesitate. He was standing outside a bakery waiting for his friend when someone driving by started shooting.

Quentin was mortally wounded, shot in the back with a bullet lodged in his spine. He was heading into surgery to stop the bleeding when his heart stopped.

A 2005 graduate of Steubenville High School, Quentin went on to attend Waynesburg University on a football scholarship. There, he contracted a virus that his mother previously said “attacked his heart mechanism to where his body wasn’t getting his heart enough blood to function. He was basically in heart failure.”

He eventually received a heart transplant and endured what she described as “rejection issues,” but had finally turned a corner with his health and was preparing to graduate from Youngstown State University when he was killed.

She said losing him is a pain that never goes away.

“Each person handles grief differently, but it’s there,” Worrels said. “Because any trigger — a picture, a scent, a song — will take you back to your loved one and the grief starts all over again. You just learn to deal with it. You can cry at that moment, you can be angry at that moment. However you feel, you deal with it at the moment and know tomorrow’s a new day.”

On Sunday, she is hoping friends and family members of other victims of violence will join her at Fort Steuben Park for a Stop the Violence prayer vigil. The vigil begins at 7 p.m.

Worrels said the vigil is as much about celebrating lives lost too soon as it is about reflecting on what has been lost.

“It brings back memories, good and bad. It brings back hard memories you have to live with daily,” she said. “But you don’t want that loved one’s life to not be honored because they’re gone. The person who did the crime doesn’t care, so we have to make sure we honor our loved ones, no matter what, because their lives were cut short. We honor their lives and remember them as we can.”

Worrels said too many families in and around Steubenville have had to deal with the same feelings she experiences every day.

“I don’t want you to think it’s just me and my son. I want to reach out and help all of us heal together,” she said. “We’re in the same community — our children probably knew each other, they probably went to school together. We’re in this community and we need to encourage each other, be a source of strength. People say I’m strong, but I’m only strong because God gives me strength. Some people need a little more help dealing with their grief. If I can be that person, if I can help you by talking with you, praying with you and just basically helping you in your grief, I’ll do it.”

Quentin’s killer was never brought to justice. Witnesses were reluctant to come forward. At the time, police knew only that “a blue or silver car drove by with two men, both wearing black masks, and shots were fired.”

“At this point, if he’s out there living his life the way he wants, I don’t care,” Worrels said. “I don’t care what he’s doing because in my heart I know God gets the justice. You’re not going to live on this earth, do what you want and not find out that God will get justice.

“I forgive the person who killed my son. I can’t forget, but I can forgive and move on because I’m living the life God would have me live and I know in the end God gets the justice. We all have to deal with our maker. If you believe in God and if you believe in heaven, then you know when you leave this earth you have to be accountable for what you’ve done. So I forgive this person. I’ve moved on. I don’t want to be stuck in that broken mess.”