On the longest night of the year, dozens of people gathered in Eugene’s Washington Jefferson Park to mourn the lives of people who died in Lane County while living on the streets. At least 20 names were read through tears, pauses and sniffling during the memorial ceremony Dec. 21.
“Many more were missed who have passed away,” Leigh Galbraith, co-director of Black Thistle Street Aid, said after the ceremony.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, 418 unhoused individuals died in Oregon from January to October. Of those deaths, 49 occurred in Lane County. Most of the people died from natural causes or unintended injury and were 45 to 64 years old…