In a ceremony at the Grass Valley Veterans Memorial Building Monday night honoring the three people slain in the Jan. 10 shooting spree, Anne Woodward (left) passes a long magenta ribbon that symbolizes community unity. (Photo by Eileen Joyce)

Though many will never forget the rainy day in January when violence took the lives of friends and loved ones, Nevada County residents came together in a memorial service Monday night in hopes of moving on.

Before a quiet, somber crowd that nearly filled the Veterans Memorial Building in Grass Valley, the Rev. Don Moore expressed sympathy for friends and family who lost loved ones.

"But tonight is a time to focus on the community and move forward with the healing process," said Moore, president of Nevada County Christian Ministers Fellowship.

In the face of adversity, he said, people should focus on the good of the community and lift each other up.

Nevada County Supervisor Elizabeth Martin called Jan. 10 a horrible day for all of the community. Just before noon, Scott Harlan Thorpe allegedly opened gunfire at the county's Behavioral Health Department in Nevada City and then at Lyon's Restaurant near Grass Valley.

Three were killed in the attacks and three were injured, one after jumping from a second-floor window at the HEW building.

Many are grieving and traumatized by what happened, Martin said. She asked how the community could channel the tragedy into something positive.

"I welcome your hopes and visions ... so this changes us the way it must," Martin said.

Nevada City businesswoman LeeAnn Brook likened the close-knit community of Grass Valley and Nevada City to an afghan blanket, which starts with one strand of yarn and branches out into a blanket. Through wear and tear, she said, eventually a strand of yarn will break. But tonight is a night of mending, Brook said.

It is an "opportunity to tie together the amazing afghan of our community. A time to teach our children not only how to mend, but how to knit," Brook said.

"A great place to start the healing is with the beautiful memories of loved ones that God has blessed us with," said Andy Owens, a former pastor of First Baptist Church in Grass Valley and general manager of Hooper and Weaver Mortuary.

"A way to heal us even in the most tragic circumstances is to look out on the beauty of Nevada County," he said.

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