Shootings anniversary: Giffords walks trail in memory of slain staffer
by Jaimee Rose on Jan. 07, 2012, under Arizona Republic NewsTUCSON – On a hiking trail overlooking the canyons of Tucson, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held her husband’s hand Saturday morning while he read the names of the shooting victims aloud – hers included.
Giffords came, however, to honor one name in particular.
“Gabe Zimmerman,” she said to The Arizona Republic, enunciating each syllable, shaking her head and touching her heart.
Photos from trail | Tucson tragedy: One year later
“Good stuff. Real good stuff,” she said, gesturing to the trail now named in his honor.
Zimmerman, 30, was Giffords’ staffer, friend, and one of six people killed and 13 wounded in the shooting near Tucson a year ago today. Giffords was shot point-blank through the head, and is still recovering; the bullet damaged her ability to speak and use the right side of her body.
The congresswoman’s presence was a surprise to people out hiking the trail on Saturday.
“Hey, Gabby,” called a man riding past on horseback, “love you.”
“I love you,” she called back. Giffords met many of her staff members, friends and supporters at the trail, and was swept into hugs as she arrived. Many had tears in their eyes.
“Hello, hello, hello,” she said, often punctuating her joy by humming a short tune. “Wonderful, wonderful,” she said, describing the scene and the day.
As people hugged her and told her how happy they were to see her out today, she responded with, “Needed a break,” and, “Thank you very much.”
Zimmerman’s mother, Emily Nottingham, guided Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, through the trail, pointing out the photos and the benches and the placards about her son. She read out loud a poem Zimmerman wrote about himself when he was 10. The words are now etched into tile – in Zimmerman’s handwriting at age 10 — as part of a permanent memorial.
“Gabe Matthew Zimmerman,” it begins.
“Happy, athletic, outgoing, original.
“Who loves sports, family and pizza.
“Who needs sports, friends and family.
“Who fears failing, weapons and war.
“Who gives help, love and ideas.
“Who would like to see no hunger, peace, and no nuclear booms.”
Giffords listened with her mouth pulled tight and her brow creased, embracing Nottingham and her staffers and friends.
Along the trail, Giffords pointed out the things she was seeing: “trees, and bush,” she said, gesturing to the sweep of Davidson Canyon below.
Her walk is stronger and more steady than the last time she was observed by The Republic at the White House in October. On the hike, she wore jeans, tennis shoes, a red jacket, and a concho-style belt.
Giffords told her nurse, Kristy Poteet, that this weekend makes her feel “sad,” but that she’s happy to be home in Tucson.
“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day,” she said while walking the trail.
Giffords and her staff had lunch afterward. Later in the day, for the first time, she visited the Safeway where she was shot, even pointing out the parking spot she chose on Jan. 8, 2011. She was accompanied by Kelly, her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, and a U.S. Capitol Police escort, which was present throughout the day.
When Giffords arrived at the grocery store, 10-year-old Jesus Perez was watching.
“That’s her, say hi to her,” his mom whispered, and he walked over to Giffords, who was looking at the new memorial plaque near the spot where she was shot.
“She looked like she got a little bit skinnier,” said Perez, who lives in Tucson. “She only talked a little bit. She looked happy-sad.”
“She had a lot of bodyguards with her, and her husband was with her.”
Perez noticed the way Giffords held her right arm awkwardly, “like this,” he said, holding his arm out at his side, bent.
“Her head doesn’t look like she had an operation,” he said. “It looks normal.”
He did notice her labored walk.
“But when she was walking, I was right next to her,” he said. “She looked happy-sad.”
On Twitter, Giffords’ husband announced their visit to Safeway.
“It’s been a tough year, but we’re lucky to have so many people standing with us,” he said.
Giffords will appear at a candlelight vigil Sunday that will mark the first anniversary of the shooting. It begins at 6:30 p.m. on the University of Arizona mall.
