Tucson, Arizona – Robin Young sat at a table surrounded by four of her lifelong friends. They reminisced about their childhood when they ran around in the vacant home next to hers until Marian Holland moved in.
The group of friends lived on Tucson’s south side, just south of Valencia Road near 12th Avenue, in the 1970s. They’ve been there for each other through many of life’s milestones and supported one another through loss and grief.
On Saturday, they leaned on each other for support once more as they commemorated loved ones who died of illnesses due to contaminated water on Tucson’s south side. As Young and her friends shared childhood stories, her daughter sat next to her adding finishing touches — a heart and a flower — to a tile with the name Haley Knutsen etched into the clay. Knutsen, the daughter of another friend of the group, died when she was a little girl, Young said…