ROYAL OAK — The lives of two Chaldean West Bloomfield children who died in a fatal boating accident last summer were honored Sunday, Sept. 21 at an event at the Detroit Zoo, hosted by the Alexander and Gabrielle Mansour Memorial Fund. 

More than 1,000 people attended the event entitled “Stride for Seminarians.” 

Alexander, 11, and Gabrielle, 6, died after the accident on Sylvan Lake in July 2013. The family’s third child, Adriana, survived the accident. She was only 10-years-old at the time. 

Sunday’s commemoration ceremony included a 1.7-mile walk at the zoo. The walk was followed by a mass in the Zoo Pavilion that will also benefit the Chaldean seminarian fund. 

“Without prayer, without your love, support daily, from the inception of this tragedy, our family would be shattered,” the children’s father, John Mansour, told the crowd. “This is not possible without each and everyone of you.” 

The Alexander and Gabrielle Mansour Memorial Fund is a permanently-endowed fund to support the West Bloomfield School District. Annual distributions from the fund support student enrichment programs or activities, including art, dance or basketball, all of which were hobbies that were of particular interest to both Alexander and Gabrielle.  

To learn more about the events, visit www.alexandgabby.com.