Watch a video report from the unfolding of the AIDS Memorial QuiltJim Berg of Kalispell died in 1994, one among hundreds of thousands of Americans taken by the scourge that is AIDS. Today, Berg is more than that simple statistic. He is a name, a picture, a T-shirt, memories and wishes stitched into the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, the 21-year-old commemorative art project founded by a small group of activists in San Francisco.
On Thursday, 101 sections of the quilt, containing more than 800 names, went on display at the University of Montana's Adams Center. This largest-ever installation of the AIDS Quilt in Montana serves as a heartbreaking reminder of the real impact of AIDS - not just on those who suffered and died from the disease, but on those who knew and loved the victims.
Munzenrider is all too familiar with that shock. Her brother, Steven, died of AIDS in 1994. After he passed away, she and her family created a panel for the AIDS Quilt. On Thursday, she recalled the visceral impact when she first saw it on display in 1996, stitched into a section with seven other panels.
“Right there on the same section, there were the names of two of my Helena High School classmates,” said Munzenrider, UM's director of university relations. “I didn't even know that they had died of AIDS until I saw that.”
Indeed, many panels in the current display feature names of Montanans. In preparing for the display, the Missoula AIDS Council solicited requests from the public for specific panels from among the 48,000 that have been made to date by people across America. More than 75 requests poured into the office, said Keri McWilliams, the council's executive director.
“The response was pretty overwhelming,” she said. “We've got people coming in from all over the state to see this display. We have one father who called yesterday to say that he's flying in from Kansas to see his son's panel. This has really turned into a regional display.”
Some of the names on the quilt are nothing but nicknames, or first names - a reflection of the stigma that has haunted victims and their families since AIDS emerged as an epidemic in the 1980s. Other names are shockingly familiar: panels commemorating Queen singer Freddy Mercury, fashion designer Perry Ellis, actor Rock Hudson, pianist Liberace and rapper Eazy-E are found among the sections on display at the Adams Center.
The arrival of these sections of the AIDS Quilt in Missoula was precipitated by a flap between the University of Montana and the Missoula AIDS Council last spring, after UM agreed to raise $75,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation - none of which was originally expected to benefit local causes directly.
After representatives of the Missoula AIDS Council questioned the deal, UM renegotiated with John's foundation, securing a dedication of $20,000 of the money raised back to the Missoula AIDS Council, which works to prevent the spread of AIDS through education and testing on a local level.
UM also promised to arrange the visit of the AIDS Quilt to Missoula, with money raised from the exhibit benefiting the Missoula AIDS Council.
Though the agreement might have appeared to be an olive branch from UM, coordinators of the local display said Thursday that the conflict was hardly the only motive for bringing the AIDS Quilt back to Missoula for the first time since 2001.
“It's been a dream of mine to bring the quilt to Missoula, ever since I came here 14 years ago,” said Munzenrider, who served as co-chair of the AIDS Quilt Committee that raised money and brought the display to Missoula. “It's something I feel personally dedicated to, and it's so gratifying to see it finally here again.”
For the AIDS Council's McWilliams, the importance of the event was not only to honor those who had died and their loved ones, but also to raise awareness about the continued menace of the disease.
“We hope to raise awareness about AIDS and encourage people to get tested so that they know their status,” said McWilliams. “There are 500 people known to be living with AIDS in Montana, but there could be a lot more who don't know they're living with it, because they haven't gotten tested.”
That sentiment was echoed by UM President George Dennison in a speech at the opening ceremony for the display on Thursday evening.
“We at the University of Montana feel honored to host this exhibit,” he said, speaking to a crowd of more than 150 who gathered for the event. “More importantly, we see it as an opportunity to educate Montanans about the effects of AIDS.”
Reporter Joe Nickell can be reached at 523-5358 or at jnickell@missoulian.com.
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