21 years ago tomorrow a man went into an engineering classroom at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec. As Alice Pawley reminded us in a 2009 Sciencewomen post.

He demanded all 48 men in the class leave the room, lined up all 9 women against a wall, and, shouting "You are all a bunch of [expletive] feminists!", proceeded to shoot them. He went into the hall and shot 18 more people, mostly at random. He finally shot himself. He had killed 14 women all together, and injured 9 more women and 4 men.

The women who died could have been anyone. They could have been your friends, your mothers, your sisters, your lovers, your daughters, your neighbors, your students, your teachers, maybe even you.

They were killed because they were women. On Sunday, December 12th, Worldwide Children's Memorial Day, people will light candles in remembrance of those, as my friend Deb Eve says, whose candles went out too early. I'll be lighting a candle for the women who died that day:

Genevieve Bergeron, 21, who was a 2nd year scholarship student in civil engineering.
Helene Colgan, 23, who was in her final year of mechanical engineering and planned to take her master's degree.
Nathalie Croteau, 23, who was in her final year of mechanical engineering.
Barbara Daigneault, 22, who was in her final year of mechanical engineering and held a teaching assistantship.
Anne-Marie Edward, 21, who was a first year student in chemical engineering.
Maud Haviernick, 29, who was a 2nd year student in engineering materials, and a graduate in environmental design.
Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31, who was a 2nd year engineering student specializing in engineering materials.
Maryse Laganiere, 25, who worked in the budget department of the Polytechnique.
Maryse Leclair, 23, who was a 4th year student in engineering materials.
Anne-Marie Lemay, 27, who was a 4th year student in mechanical engineering.
Sonia Pelletier, 28, who was to graduate the next day in mechanical engineering. She was awarded a degree posthumously.
Michele Richard, 21, who was a 2nd year student in engineering materials.
Annie St-Arneault, 23, who was a mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte, 21, who was a first year student in engineering materials.

May we always remember not just the women but the date that they were killed and why they were killed-- because they wanted to be engineers..