BLACKSBURG -- With a memorial ceremony, a candlelight vigil and many hugs and tears, Virginia Tech took a day off from classes yesterday to remember the 32 students and teachers slain last year as musicians, artists, athletes, classroom cut-ups and compassionate volunteers.

The emotional events marking the first anniversary of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history punctuated a brilliant spring day, so different from April 16, 2007, when a leaden sky spit snow. Students turned out by the thousands to remember their lost classmates and teachers.

"Everybody really respects today," said senior psychology major Remmie Arnold of Chesterfield County. "I didn't expect such a large turnout."

At the day's first memorial event, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine lamented the "lost promise" of the victims' shortened lives. About 15,000 people, most of them Tech students wearing orange and maroon T-shirts, streamed across the Drillfield to gather at the small memorial of gray stones to honor the dead. There, in a simple and solemn ceremony, the names of the dead were spoken; then their virtues and passions -- and personality quirks -- were briefly extolled.

A professor was noted for the tender love she lavished on her flower gardens. A student was known for calling her parents nearly every night from school. One victim had a zany sense of humor and enjoyed origami. Another liked to collect mosquitoes. Others volunteered with children or helped the poor. One was a volunteer firefighter, another a rescue-squad member. One was a high school valedictorian, another a master of sports trivia.

Many were recalled for their warm smiles, their friendliness and compassion.

All had much to offer, had they been allowed to live, Kaine said.

"The world was cheated on April 16 a year ago -- cheated out of the accomplishments that were sure to come from these 32 lives," Kaine said after listening to the 32 eulogies. "These 32 lives were too short.

"But we all leave this world too quickly. We all lead lives that are too short. If we realize how short life is, how short our lives are, we will focus on what is important -- faith, relationships with family and friends, dedication to great causes and principles, and service to others. The lives of these 32, as described, demonstrated that they understood this great wisdom."

Parents and relatives of some of those slain sat in folding chairs on the Drillfield during the ceremony. None spoke during the ceremony.

Student gunman Seung-Hui Cho, whose name was not uttered by Kaine or by the ceremony's only other speaker, Tech President Charles W. Steger, killed 27 students and five teachers that cold morning a year ago.

The short eulogies prompted students to hug each other and cry. Psychology professor Scott Geller said the display of emotion is critical as the university continues to heal itself.

"Year after year, I think we'll revisit the event, but also learn from it and heal from it," he said. "We'll spread the story and tell the story, and it will live on."

Tech students huddled with friends on the Drillfield and lined up for myriad other events and exhibits offered across the sprawling campus.

Students from Blacksburg's schools were given the option of attending the ceremony or class.

One high school student who chose to attend, Zach Myers, 16, said the somber ceremony was the appropriate way to mark the day. "It's nice to come here and reflect on things," he said. "It helps."

Steger, in his remarks, mourned the dead, saluted the wounded survivors and praised the university community's effort to come to grips with the tragedy during the past year.

"Neither the searing heat of summer nor the icy winds of winter has relieved us of our pain," Steger said. "So, just as we have turned to each other for comfort so many times over the past months, it is fitting that we gather today to support one another yet again, as we remember those whose lives were lost and those whose lives were forever changed on April 16, 2007. Indeed, all of our lives were changed by that day.

"In the ensuing days, weeks and months, we have searched for answers. We have searched for meaning in what is incomprehensible. . . . And we have searched our souls for purpose and direction and peace to calm the turmoil in our hearts and minds.

"We have not found all that we have sought, but at every turn, we have found each other."

The day of remembrance ended at dusk when the Student Government Association held a candlelight vigil on the Drillfield, evoking the vigil held the night of the shootings.

Campus police said the vigil crowd was far larger than the one that had gathered in the morning, but they could not provide an estimate.

A candle that had been lit at midnight Tuesday was used to light 32 other candles, and those in turn were used to light more as the names of the 32 victims were read.

Taps was played, and with the sound of the Virginia Tech Chamber Singers echoing across the Drillfield, thousands of students and others held up the candles that glowed against the darkness of the night. Among them was Lauren Benishek, a 21-year-old psychology and Spanish major from Herndon who said she had seen many alumni come to town this week to attend the day's events. "And the community definitely wants to come out in full force, especially those of us who have lived here the past year," she said. "Because it's not just about the 32, it's about showing support for the whole community."
Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or rbowman@timesdispatch.com.

Staff writer Carlos Santos contributed to this report.