The Birds of Sorrow: Giving Voice to Loss in an Age of Pandemic - Irwin Library, April 2025

Names on Block 3731: 

Panel 1: The NAMES Project Indianapolis Remembers All Hoosiers Who Have Lost Their Lives to AIDS

Panel 2: Eddy Moore

Panel 3: Charles David Asa:

Panel 4: The Damien Center, Grand Masquerade, 1994

Panel 5: "The NAMES Project Indianapolis Honors Ryan White" World AIDS Day 1993

Panel 6: Kelson Lineberry

The AIDS Memorial Quilt digital collection presents digitized records concerning Quilt panels that are more than 25 years old. Records concerning panels less than 25 years old are available onsite in the Folklife Reading Room.

The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes.

The National AIDS Memorial and the Library of Congress ask that researchers treat the records within the Archive with respect for the persons whose lives the records document.

The information provided below is taken from the panel maker records to allow the description of these panels, and the people represented on them, to come from those who loved them and made the panel. It is used under Fair Use for educational purposes. To read the panel makers' submissions in full, please visit the digital collection through the Library of Congress.  If you have other reference questions about these files, you should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. Not every panel on each block had records available and if no information is publicly available the panel is not included below.

Who is on this panel?

The NAMES Project Indianapolis Remembers All Hoosiers Who Have Lost Their Lives to AIDS, The NAMES Project was originally begun by West Lafayette-born Cleve Jones in 1987 in San Francisco, and the NAMES Project Indianapolis continues today under the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis which serves as its host. In October 2000, the Indiana AIDS Memorial, a permanent memorial to the thousands of Hoosiers who have lost their lives to AIDS, was dedicated on the grounds of Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Charles David Asa (1963-1994) from Indianapolis, whose panel was made by his parents. They commented that he was a graduate of Thomas Carr Howe High School and loved clowns. It was their specific wish that Charles's panel be displayed in Indiana.

The Damien Center, Grand Masquerade, 1994. The Damien Center was founded in 1987 to assist the men, women, and children of Indiana who were affected by HIV/AIDS. They had an annual tradition of making a quilt panel to honor those lost, and several of them are part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.  Block 2060 contains an early panel made by the staff of the Damien Center in contrasting black and white squares both because the race flag is emblematic of Indianapolis and also because the stark contrasts represent the contrasting lives of the people who shared their special gifts with the center. The friends and family of the Damien Center are represented on block 2441 where the Monday Nite support group made a panel to show their continued love and support.  On this block, 3731, the Damien Center submitted a panel, made at their 1994 Grand Masquerade fundraiser to reflect their continued fight against HIV/AIDS for those who cannot.

The Damien Center is still open today and remains at the center of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care in Indianapolis. Likewise, the Grand Masquerade, a fundraising gala for the center, continues annually more than thirty years after this panel's submission.

"The NAMES Project Indianapolis Honors Ryan White" World AIDS Day 1993. Ryan White, born in Kokomo, IN, was a hemophiliac who became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment.  He became a household name when Western Middle School in Russiaville attempted to bar him from attending due to his HIV status, sparking a court case that captured national attention. He became an advocate for public education and research on the disease (from Wikipedia). When he died in April 1990, former president Ronald Reagan, who did not publicly acknowledge AIDS until 1985 and did not give an address on it until near the end of his second term as president in 1987, had been so impacted by knowing Ryan White that he exhorted in an op-ed in the Washington Post: 

We owe it to Ryan to make sure that the fear and ignorance that chased him from his home and his school will be eliminated. We owe it to Ryan to open our hearts and our minds to those with AIDS. We owe it to Ryan to be compassionate, caring and tolerant toward those with AIDS, their families and friends. It's the disease that's frightening, not the people who have it.

Kelson Lineberry (1965-1993) whose panel was made by his family. His mother wrote a three-page, typed letter about his life and interests. She describes him as a very brave and spirited young man who loved life.  He was grew up in Pendleton, IN and was very active in high school and college, lettering in varsity tennis at Pendleton Heights High School, active in the radio station (WEEM), and many other academic clubs.  He attended Florida Southern College where he majored in Finance and was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity.  He returned to Indianapolis where he sold insurance and advised clients on financial planning. He enjoyed the Simpsons (Bart always made him laugh) and loved all animals, especially his dogs. 

She said, "He wanted to keep his secret as long as he could so everyone wouldn't worry about him. After he told us, we then understood his sense of urgency why everything had to be done yesterday. ... He visited all 50 states. His 50th state culminated with a visit to White Sands, New Mexico in September, 1993 before he died in December, 1993. I will cherish all those memories." She continued, "We all loved and still love him very much and miss him so. ... The family has been slowly working through its grief and slowly working on his quilt panel. The panel has finally been completed in his memory, of which we will never forego." His mother added, "I am requesting that his panel be sent to places in Indiana, especially Indianapolis."