Publication Date October 29, 2017 | SFGate

Memorial bell tolls for 42 victims of Northern California wildfires

United States
Laura Schulze, above, holds her son Zachary, 8, during the Day of Remembrance at Santa Rosa Junior Col lege, where hundreds of community members, officials and first responders gathered in Bailey Field, below. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle
Laura Schulze, above, holds her son Zachary, 8, during the Day of Remembrance at Santa Rosa Junior Col lege, where hundreds of community members, officials and first responders gathered in Bailey Field, below. Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle

The Northern California wildfires killed people in four counties. But one, Sonoma County, bore the brunt of loss. Twenty-three lives, more than half the total, were lost there.

On Saturday, those lives — and the others — were remembered.

Sonoma County hosted a Day of Remembrance at Santa Rosa Junior College, ringing a memorial bell to honor the 42 people who died in Sonoma, Napa, Yuba and Mendocino counties. Hundreds of residents gathered on Bailey Field under the mantra “Sonoma Strong.”

Those gone were sons and daughters. A former Navy lieutenant, a wildlife biologist. The youngest was 14. The oldest, 100.