The East End Community School and the Maine Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing have installed a memorial bench for Joshua Seal, killed in the October shooting. Photo courtesy of Portland Public Schools

The East End Community School and the Maine Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing have installed a memorial bench for Joshua Seal, who was killed in last year’s Lewiston shooting.

Joshua Seal. Elizabeth Seal via AP

The bench overlooks Portland’s Back Cove from its spot on Munjoy Hill, and it sits next to an evergreen tree students planted in his memory, Portland Public Schools spokesperson Tess Nacelewicz said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Seal, who was deaf, worked with the Maine Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as an educational technician at the school from 2013 to 2020, Nacelewicz said. He was killed nearly one year ago in the Oct. 25 shooting during a cornhole tournament.

The American Sign Language sign for “I love you” is engraved into the bench seat, centered in a carved outline of Maine with a red heart over Lewiston.

“He was a parent of four children also part of the PPS community, as well as a beloved husband, friend and colleague,” Nacelewicz said in the statement. “His advocacy for the Deaf community knew no limits.”