"It's a visual representation. Seeing how many candles there are, it's just terrible."

Jan Philbrick, from the nearby town of Redding, stopped to hug people standing at the memorial.

"This has always been the sweetest of towns. It's held onto its identity," she said. "It's hard to bear for any town, but this is a particularly kind, good, open, balanced place."

She described the memorial as beautiful, and said she stopped at it "because we're all in this together." Henggeler accepted a hug. He taught woodworking, architecture and robotics at nearby Danbury High School for 37 years, retiring three years ago.

He searched for words as to how the tragedy affected him. "I taught high school, but I had a special place in my heart for young children."

Weeping, he walked off.

Like the rest of town, he cried tear soup.