When a car accident took the life of 19-year-old James Anthony Rodrigues in 2003, his mother, Karen Knee, found a way out of her overpowering grief by telling herself, “My son will not be forgotten. His life matters. I’m going to honor him by becoming a better person.” From that vow sprang Memory JAR, a nonprofit that offers “comforting ideas for grief” and ways to memorialize lost loved ones. One is the annual luminaria lighting along Laguna Beach, which takes place at sunset on the first Sunday of every November, where families and friends gather to celebrate the flame of love that never dies
