Gloucester honored her fishermen, wives, and families at the annual Gloucester Fisherman Memorial service at the Man of the Wheel statue, and then onto the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial statue to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the statue, which was built by Cape Ann sculptor Morgan Faulds Pike.

Hundreds of people gathered at the afternoon service to lay wreaths, listen to words of comfort from local dignitaries, commemorate the addition of names to the cenotaph, and think of their loved ones as they tossed flowers into the sea.

Gloucester was devastated this past winter at the loss of seven fishermen when on January 30th, the FV Lily Jean sank 30 miles off the coast. These are the names of the fishermen and (one) fisherwomen newly engraved on the cenotaph: 2015 Captain David R. Sullivan, 2020 Nicolo Vitale and Michael Porper, Jr., 2026 Captain Gus Sanfilippo, Paul Beal, and son Paul Beal, Jr., John Rousindis, Freeman Short, Sean Therrien, and Jada Samitt.

At both the memorial service at the Man of the Wheel statue and the rededication of the Fishermen’s Wives statue, Lilliana DiMercurio and Allesandro Schoc lifted their beautiful voices in song and music to honor the fishers and their families.