Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech civil engineering graduate Senannu Ashiabor of Ghana celebrates his new doctorate with his relatives (from left) Edem Aidam, Richard Johnson and Jude Aidam.

Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Jennifer Stephens, 23, of Stafford visits a memorial on the school's campus Friday in Blacksburg. Stephens and other Virginia Tech graduates struggled to balance joy with grief.

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BLACKSBURG — Barbara Stone and her niece were walking toward Cassell Coliseum, where her daughter Laura and other members of Virginia Tech’s Graduate School were to be honored for completing their degrees.

As they passed the collection of flowers and cards outside West Ambler Johnston Hall, where the first two of April 16th’s 32 victims were shot, Amber Crump, the niece, quietly said: “That’s where it happened.”

For the members and parents of Tech’s Class of 2007, the joy of graduation day was tempered, at times, with moments of reflection on the 27 students and families denied the opportunity to experience what should be one of the happiest times of life.

“I think that we are all very joyous for our children who are here today, yet as parents we can all identify with the pain” of those who lost children, Stone said.

In scenes on and off campus, the shootings were not forgotten amid the traditional events of graduation and the widespread celebration of students entering the next phase of their lives.

The Corps of Cadets
At Virginia Tech’s 83rd annual Corps of Cadets graduation ceremony, Joy Graham, mother of cadet Jacquelyn Graham of Amelia County, Va., said she had been concerned for her daughter’s welfare following the shootings that took the life of another cadet, Matthew La Porte, a sophomore from Dumont, N.J.

But Graham said she was impressed with her daughter’s sense of belonging to the corps even after the tragedy.

“She came home for a few days and said, 'No, Mom, I’ve got to get back there,’ ” Graham said. “She’s a very strong girl. Very independent.”

While not dwelled on, April 16 was mentioned at the corps ceremony by Maj. Gen. Kathleen Gainey, the guest speaker.

“Each of you had your world turned upside down with the recent tragedy,” she said and went on to offer some advice to the nearly 75 percent of corps members who are commissioned: “These are the same emotions you will face should you go into combat.”

The condolences
They came from all over the country in the wake of the shootings — cards, letters, musical compact discs , bracelets, baked goods, hand-made bead pieces and more as expressions of sympathy to the Virginia Tech community on graduation day.

The items were stacked on tables in a room at Squires Student Center and were offered to students, parents and anyone else who wanted to take them as mementoes or remembrances.

“We logged them and we know what we’ve got,” said Monica Hunter, associate campus programs director with the University Unions and Student Activities. “There’s no way we could archive it all.”

In passing them on, Hunter said, “We’re just trying to be the messenger.”

The keynote speaker
In a news conference before the undergraduate commencement where he was to give the keynote address, Gen. John Abizaid, who until recently oversaw U.S. military operations in Iraq, said he hadn’t prepared the commencement speech when the shootings happened, but he said it would have been fairly straightforward and filled with happiness and hope.

“I’d say the happiness and hope is still in there, along with condolences,” he said.

Abizaid was asked what his experience in the military has taught him about dealing with the loss of close friends.

“You’ll never forget the friends you lost and you don’t want to ever forget them,” he said. “The grieving process must continue, but also the process of moving on, moving forward.”

The memorial
Joan Mitchell was one of the visitors who came to the victims’ memorial on the Drillfield, even though she had no involvement with graduation. She moved to Blacksburg from Charlottesville, Va., a few years ago and choked up when asked how she viewed her new hometown now.

“I didn’t know it could be this hard,” Mitchell whispered before gaining her composure.

“I’ve been very proud of this town and the students,” she said finally. “I feel honored to be a member of the community.”

The flags
The red-and-white Indonesian flag was lowered to half-staff on the 30th of 32 temporary poles erected on North Main Street outside Blacksburg Baptist Church in honor of the shooting victims.

The father, mother and aunt of Partahi “Mora” Lumbantoruan — visiting from Indonesia for graduation ceremonies where Lumbantoruan will receive a posthumous doctorate in civil engineering — took photos of their flag and consoled one another .

The family was not willing to be interviewed, but Teguh Wardoyo, an official with Indonesia’s embassy in Washington who helped arrange the visit, said “they want to fulfill the invitation from the university as well as pay the last respects for their beloved son.”

The church’s senior pastor, Thomas McDearis, said a sign asking passers-by to pray for the family of the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, and all those suffering from mental illness, would be put up later in the day.

The shirts
A short distance from campus, at Tech’s Volume II bookstore, a crowd lined up before the doors opened to buy $5 memorial T-shirts that benefit the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

While in line to buy a shirt prompted by the nation’s most deadly school shooting, hours before celebrating completing his bachelor’s degree, Brice Bradford summed up the conflicting feelings many were likely to be dealing with.

“You want to feel accomplished, but when there’s … people that are supposed to be sitting next to you and they’re not even alive, what do you have to feel accomplished about?” Bradford asked. “They’re supposed to get the same degree you were and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Having said that,” Bradford continued, “it is graduation, and you do have to move forward and accept your progression on from this place.

That’s what graduation’s for. So, while it is mixed feelings, you know, it’s still graduation. It is what it is.”

Staff Writers Donna Alvis-Banks, Paul Dellinger, Greg Esposito and Anna Mallory contributed to this report.