Parents and children gathered at the Edgartown Lighthouse for the 13th annual Ceremony of Remembrance. At the base of the lighthouse, granite stones are engraved with the names of children who have died.

The Children’s Memorial at the Edgartown Lighthouse was dedicated in 2001, with cobblestones under the lighthouse engraved with the names of children of all ages who had died.

On Saturday afternoon, under bright blue skies, Norma Mendoza posed for a picture next to the Edgartown Lighthouse. At her feet lay a gray stone inscribed with the names Rosaura and Rafael Freire Mendoza surrounded by flowers and small white Precious Moments figurines.

Like many other parents at the Ceremony of Remembrance on Saturday, Kathy Fortini stood around a stone bearing the name of her own child. She stared out into the ocean and said, “This place is perfect — it’s how he’d be looking out.”

Each stone at the Edgartown Lighthouse Children’s Memorial tells a story of a child’s life cut too short. This eighth annual ceremony honored all of the Vineyard children who have died; some Islanders, some frequent visitors.

It rained in Vineyard Haven and in Oak Bluffs on Saturday. But in Edgartown the skies held out for a 1 p.m. service at the Edgartown Lighthouse. More than 60 people came together at the foot of the beacon, under dark and threatening skies for the Children’s Memorial, a remembrance. They came to hear stories, music and commemorate a lost child in their lives.