UNIVERSITY PARK, Fla. – Gina and Orlando Duran marked the fourth anniversary of their 18-year-old daughter Alexa’s death on Wednesday with a tribute at Florida International University.
To honor the memory of the aspiring attorney and 2017 graduate of Archbishop McCarthy High School, Brian Hanlon spent more than a year working on a bronze sculpture. Her mother said Hanlon’s attention to detail was impressive.
“For us, this closes a very painful chapter ... We know that Alexa will never come back, but she will live with us in our hearts,” Alexa Duran’s father said after the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday outside of FIU’s library.
Alexa was among the six who died after a 175-foot-long section of the FIU pedestrian bridge that was under construction collapsed. Her mother said she was so impressed with the sculpture’s detail. Hanlon said the sculpture’s 18 doves represent Alexa’s age. She was the youngest victim.
“While we cannot change the past, we can honor the memory of those we lost,” said Kenneth A. Jessell, FIU’s interim president, said during the ceremony.
A 950-ton span crushed eight vehicles on Eighth Street. Alexa died in a gray Toyota 4Runner. Brandon Brownfield, 39, died in a white Ford pickup truck. Oswald Gonzalez, 57, and Alberto Arias, 53, died in a white Chevy. Rolando Fraga, 60, died in a gold Jeep Cherokee.
Navarro Brown, 37, died at the hospital. He was a Structural Technologies VSL employee who was working on the bridge when it collapsed. Hanlon, a father of five, said the sculpture’s five pillars are a tribute to Brownfield, Gonzalez, Arias, Fraga, and Brown.
“I wanted to come down and try to use my gifts to create something that is cathartic, that is meaningful,” Hanlon said, adding a family photo was the inspiration.
The Florida Department of Transportation also unveiled a rendering for a memorial plaque that will be on display when a new pedestrian bridge is in place. Orlando Duran, a civil engineer, said he will be pushing to make sure they close the street this time during construction.