CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — The community gathered this week to honor Sam Nordquist, the transgender man from Minnesota who was tortured and killed in Ontario County.
Nordquist would have turned 25 on Wednesday. News10NBC’s Marsha Augustin spoke with Nordquist’s family about how they’re making Sam’s first birthday without him. Linda Nordquist, Sam’s mother, shared how they’re marking the occasion.
“We got tattoos today. And we are going to go to the cemetery and we are going out to dinner with a friend of mine and then we are going to the Minnesota music cafe,” she said.
Linda Nordquist said the pain and loss of Sam feels as gut-wrenching as when they first received the news of his death.
“This morning was rough. But every day is rougher for us. They say time heals. Well, they’re lying. It gets harder and harder every day. I do most of my crying in the morning or evening because that was Sam and I’s time,” she said.
Sam’s sister, Kayla Nordquist, also shared her struggles. She has a tattoo of Sam’s face and name with a rose on her arm. “There he is. I cried!” she said. “And I’m constantly in the mirror looking at him.”
Memories of Sam are kept alive through shirts, pins, jewelry, and the wallpaper on her phone.
“It’s a little bit of therapy, and because all of them have something to do with Sam or it’s an exact replica of what Sam had on his body I get emotional,” Kayla Nordquist said. “For me, it makes me feel closer to Sam.
Sam’s friend, Melissa Light, traveled from Colorado to join the family for the birthday celebration. “I begged Sam to go to Hawaii rather than New York and I couldn’t change his mind,” she said.
The family is determined to see justice served for Sam. “It better be,” they said.
Sam will be honored at The Stonewall Inn in New York City on June 26. The seven suspects accused of killing and torturing Sam are due back in court in September.
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‘Every day is rougher for us’: Family of Sam Nordquist, transgender man tortured and killed, marks first birthday without him WHEC.com.
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