Kobe Bell Covid-19 Memorial Ceremony

The Presidential Inauguration Committee has invited cities around the country to join President-Elect Biden in a national moment of unity on January 19th at 2:30 PM (PST). Memorializing American lives lost to COVID, cities are asked to illustrate our remembrance through the ringing of bells and illumination of buildings.

Seattle Center will join the D.C. ceremony led by Biden with the ringing of the Kobe Bell on Seattle Center grounds.
Five individuals from our community who have been directly impacted by the loss of life, will each ring the bell for a total of 40 times, reflecting on the roughly  4,000 lives lost in Washington State and the 400,000 lives lost in the United States.

These five bell-ringers are members of our cultural community partners, healthcare workers, Public Health staff and volunteers, and each especially has a personal connection, service, or story of loss related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ringing of the bell will be a virtual memorial, with the people of our region invited to join on Facebook Live and ring bells in their homes and places of business. Viewers will be encouraged to list the names of those they have lost in the chat section of the live feed.

Bell Ringers include:

• • Benjamin Erickson: President, Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association
  • Esther Lucero: Chief Executive Director, Seattle Indian Health Board
  • Dr. Ben Danielson: esteemed physician, former Senior Medical Director at Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC) in Seattle.
  • Jennifer Sarriugarte: Infection Prevention and Mitigation Consultant, Seattle Center; former Public Health worker
  • Virginia Ramos: SeaMar Infection Control Nurse, front-line worker