BARRE — Hundreds of people attended a vigil Sunday evening to pay respects to Lara Sobel, honor Vermont social workers, and reclaim the parking lot where officials say Sobel was shot as she left work Friday.
The Vermont State Employees Association labor union organized the vigil at the Old Labor Hall. Participants gave brief remarks about her life and then slowly walked to City Place on Main Street holding candles. Mourners placed roses and carnations one by one at the foot of a makeshift memorial at the base of a lamp post behind the state office building.
Sobel, 48, attended the University of Vermont, interned at a Department for Children and Families office in St. Albans, and worked as a social worker for the department for 14 years. She was a member of the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Montpelier.
Sobel was walking into the City Place parking lot Friday evening when she was shot twice allegedly by a client, Jody Herring, who had lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter.
Sobel’s surviving immediate family members include her parents, her spouse, and two daughters under age 15. One of Sobel’s relatives spoke at the vigil, and former colleagues said they considered Sobel part of the state employee family.
“I met her about 16 years ago, and she thought I was absolutely crazy, but she also loved my kids, and she loved every kid,” said Joel, a cousin by marriage. “She absolutely cared about kids.”
Tyler Watkins, 31, of Barre used to pass by Sobel as he went to the physical therapy clinic in the same building where she worked. Watkins said he only met Sobel twice, but he could tell she cared about him from the way they interacted.
“Lara saw me walking in [the clinic] and just said ‘Hi,’” Watkins said. “The second time, she knew my name … She took an interest in people, even people she was just walking by.”
Ross Calabrese, 62, of Worcester, is friends with Sobel’s family, and their kids are a few years apart in age. “She’s just a sweet person, you know, really down to earth,” Calabrese said.
Other speakers remembered Sobel for loving her community, frequenting a particular Thai restaurant, and believing a former client who said she was taking “THC pills.”
More than 20 people spoke over the course of an hour at the vigil. The remarks by close friends, acquaintances, state officials and even complete strangers were halting and heartfelt. Tears streamed down the cheeks of dozens of people in the audience who were too stunned to speak.
Administration speaks to all state workers
Gov. Peter Shumlin was one of several state officials to attend the vigil. State Treasurer Beth Pearce, House Speaker Shap Smith, of Morristown, and Sen. Anthony Pollina, of Middlesex, also attended.
Several senior members of the administration also were present, including Hal Cohen, secretary of the Agency of Human Services, Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, and Justin Johnson, secretary of the Agency of Administration.
Shumlin said he met Sobel’s father on Saturday and he told him that he wanted the people of Vermont to know his daughter went to work every morning because she cared about children. Her father wanted people to know that social workers want to help families, not harm them.
Shumlin cited recent posts on social media and asked Vermonters to combat “hateful speech” about state employees because the speech can lead to “hateful acts.” He said in some posts, for example, social workers have been accused of kidnapping children.
“We become part of the problem when we remain silent and do not answer back,” he said. “In Lara’s memory, we will speak back … You have my pledge, and I ask for your pledge.”
Hal Cohen, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, which includes the Department for Children and Families, talked about the commitment social workers have made to families.
“The people that I work with — you — are some of the most dedicated people I’ve worked with,” Cohen said. “You don’t get the recognition you deserve. We need to recognize the work that all of you do.”
Pollina said Sobel was an overworked front-line social worker who cared about families and their children who were struggling with poverty and drug abuse.
She “somehow actually managed to get all the work done,” he said, and do it well, despite working in an understaffed office where the cases piled up.
“She actually really appreciated [families] for who and what they are,” Pollina said of families whose cases are handled through the state. “Lara Sobel did everything she possibly could every day of her life.”
“We are all Lara Sobel,” he said.
