More than 1,500 people participated in a walk yesterday to support a foundation providing services to people with Alzheimer's Disease and their families.

Participants in the Third Annual Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk walked six miles starting from Canal Park near the CambridgeSide Galleria.

The fundraiser, sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association of Eastern Massachusetts, raised more than $100,000, according to Michelle A. Sullivan, an association representative.

The money will be used locally to provide services for over 100,000 people with Alzheimer's disease--a neurodegenerative disease usually affecting the elderly--and their families.

"The Memory Walk offers families who are often left feeling helpless in the wake of Alzheimer's disease a chance to do something meaningful," said Joanne Koenig-Coste, chair of the association, in a press release.

This year's walk was dedicated to State Police Air Wing Pilots James Mattaliano and Paul Perry who were killed, along with two telephone company employees, last February when their helicopter crashed into the Harvard Sailing Pavilion.

The State Air Wing pilots, to whom the walk was dedicated, played a key role in the 1994 rescue of a dying person with Alzheimer's who had wandered away from home into the woods.

The pilots also participated in the Alzheimer's educational video, Safe Return, and piloted the helicopter featured in the video. It was this helicopter that later crashed into the sailing pavilion.

Before the start of the walk, Det. Lt. Robert G. Zepf of the Massachusetts State Police read a personal tribute to the pilots. The State Police Honor Guard were also in attendance.

Fighting a Deadly Disease

Participants, who ranged in age from two months to 90 years, began the walk in Canal Park and continued along the Charles River Esplanade, down Memorial Drive, and then back to the park.

People suffering from Alzheimer's disease, their care-givers and relatives also took part in the event.

"Being involved in the Memory Walk was our way of turning this negative disease that was taking over our lives into something positive," said walker Betsy Nye-Nordman in a press release yesterday. "I think our grandfather would be really proud."

Local chapters of the fraternity Sigma Kappa from Boston University and MIT participated as well. Burlington High School cheerleaders warmed up the crowd.

This Memory Walk was part of a national event of the Alzheimer's Association's 217 chapters this month. The purpose of the events is both to raise awareness of the disease as well as raise money for continued research into Alzheimer's and related diseases, according to a press release.

The lead sponsors for the event include The Hillhaven Corporation and McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital affiliated with Harvard's medical school.

"The Memory Walk is one of the most important causes we support each year because it brings attention to a disease that otherwise gets little publicity and to an Association committed to helping families in the most devastating situations," said Richard Blinn, a vice-president of the Hill-haven Corporation, in a press release