Local woman’s home becomes shrine to murdered family members

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - One woman's home has become a shrine for her lost loved ones.

Makeshift memorials are seen all over town. Items are often left at crime scenes to remember lost loved ones.

While many of those fade away after time, one woman has discovered a way to keep her memories alive for more than 20 years.

Georgina Corcoran can’t walk down 28th Street without seeing 20 years’ worth of pain. She’s lost five men in her family due to gun violence. However, when she opens the gates to her home, she sees the love that held her family together.

On 28th Street, you’ll hear the echo of jazz music from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“I play a lot of jazz because jazz soothes your soul,” Corcoran said.

The 75-year-old said she needs the soothing around the clock.

“I begged God to take me the first year my son was gone,” Corcoran said. “I didn’t know how I was going to manage.”

Her son, 21-year-old Gregory Corcoran, was shot and killed a few blocks away 20 years ago. To manage, Corcoran turned her front lawn into a memorial.

The mourning never stopped. Her 15-year-old grandson Brad Charles was shot and killed in 2006. Brad’s brother, 29-year-old Brandon Corcoran, was killed 10 years later.

“Three months after they killed Brandon, they got Kwane and they shot him 21 times over on Osage,” Corcoran said.

Brandon’s dad Joseph died at age 49 from a massive heart attack after visiting his son’s memorial.

“You steal someone’s car, you can get another car, but you steal someone’s life, you can’t get that life back,” Corcoran said.

When family members stop by the memorial, Corcoran said it gives her family hope that the three of five unsolved murders will be closed.

"I can never let people forget what happened to those kids because these were not bad kids,” she said.

Corcoran said she can’t leave the block filled with painful memories.

“Can’t just up and go if you don’t have the money for that,” Corcoran said.

Instead, she moves her angels in and out of the house, hanging and easing her pain.

“You have to get a grip somewhere down the road because you don’t leave, you don’t get away from this,” Corcoran said.

It takes Corcoran two hours every day to set up her memorial. She has another smaller memorial in front of a home down the street.

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