By Sunayana Prabhu
MIDDLETOWN – A large crowd gathered on the grounds outside Croydon Hall Monday for a memorial vigil in honor of Charlie Kirk. The conservative political activist, 31, died after being fatally shot Sept. 10 at an event on a college campus in Utah. Elected officials from the township and county addressed the crowd in support of Kirk’s legacy and mission of fostering youth political engagement.
According to online information for the event, the vigil was sponsored by the Middletown Republican Party, the Monmouth County Republican Committee and the Monmouth County Young Republicans. Those attending held lighted candles, and many drones flew overhead at the gathering.
Rev. Jeff Kegley of Saint Mary, Mother of God parish, opened the event with a prayer. Jarrett Branch, an organizer at Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization co-founded by Kirk, said he shares Kirk’s commitment to young conservatives. “At the end of the day, we all want the same thing. We want our country to thrive, and we care about God, freedom and country,” Branch said.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, who is also the Monmouth County Republican Party chairman, said Kirk made it his mission to go “school by school, student by student, state by state, to be sure that our kids were educated on what America could be and should be.” Golden urged attendees to “put faith and freedom before fear. Put compassion in Christ before criticism.”
Middletown Mayor Tony Perry said, “We all are living in a brief moment – a brief moment to make an impact, not for titles or for triumphs, but for the legacy that we leave for our children, the America that we leave for our children. I’m going to leave an America for my three kids where dialogue is always the answer over violence. I’m going to leave an America where we are OK to disagree, but we are not going to resort to hate because of it. America always has stood the test over all of those tragic events that have come our way through our nearly 250-year history. So tomorrow we start again.”
The officials and attendees made it clear that Kirk’s legacy will live on through the activism he inspired.
The article originally appeared in the September 25 – October 1, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
