Larry Carrillo, right, his daughter Kelly Fernandez and her children Cameron, 12, and Gillian, 15, made 20 angels to decorate the lawn at the Fernandez's home in Santa Rosa as a tribute to the children who were killed in the school shooting in Newtown, CT. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)

Santa Rosa yard features 20 angels in tribute to children slain in Newtown

Twenty angels cut from wood look up from a lawn in Santa Rosa's Grace Tract neighborhood.

The winged forms pay tribute to the children killed Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"I call it 'Twenty angels taking flight,' " Kelly Fernandez said.

Neighbors pushing strollers, walking dogs and jogging with headphones in the neighborhood now pause to look at the Delevan Way lawn.

But before Fernandez, 44, and her family spent several late nights cutting and painting, the mother of two was having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit "when people's worlds have been torn apart," she said.

Then she had an idea.

Her father, Larry Carrillo, 69, helped her cut the silhouettes from plywood in the garage. Her daughter, Gillian, 15, helped paint them. Her son, Cameron, 12, made the halos.

They installed the angels Saturday. The wooden silhouettes weathered the weekend storms.

— Julie Johnson

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