Final Funerals for Newtown Victims Held Saturday

Josephine Gay, 7, Ana Marquez-Greene, 6, and Emilie Parker, 6, were laid to rest

The last of the funerals for the 26 victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. were held Saturday, ending the heartbreaking procession of services that recalled the tiny details of so many short lives.

Josephine Gay's funeral Mass was held at Saint Rose of Lima Saturday morning. The first grader had just turned 7 the week of the shooting. Monsignor Robert Weiss said at the funeral that she liked Barbie, her iPad and the color purple.

"Purple is the color of passion," Weiss said, according to the New Haven Register.

Josephine's parents, Michele and Bob, remembered how much she liked peanut butter, and how she would request a new spoon for each mouthful. They would find spoons covered with peanut butter in locations throughout the house.

Dozens of emergency responders paid their respects at the start of the service at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, walking through the church and up to the altar.

Six-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene had just moved to Newtown two months ago, in part, because of Sandy Hooks’s pristine reputation, her grandmother, Elba Marquez said. Ana's funeral was held Saturday morning at First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn.

A horse-drawn carriage brought the miniature coffin to the church, where a thousand mourners gathered to bid goodbye to Ana.

The service included a performance by Harry Connick Jr., who has played with the girl's jazz saxophonist father, Jimmy Greene, the Connecticut Post reported.

Family members remembered her as wild-haired child with her own love of music.

"Ana had a song," said the Rev. Paul Echtenkamp of Glory Chapel International Cathedral in Hartford. "It just came out of her."

Emilie Parker, 6, loved to make people smile and never missed a chance to draw a picture or make a card. Her father, Robbie Parker, said she loved to try new things, except for food.

In a press conference, Parker said he held no animosity for the gunman, even as he struggled to explain the death to his other two children, ages 3 and 4. He was sustained, he said, by the fact that the world is better for having had Emilie in it.
 
"I'm so blessed to be her dad," Parker said.

Emilie was laid to rest in Ogden, Utah, where her family lived before moving to Newtown. On Friday night her family held a memorial service in Ogden and released 26 lanterns. Emilie's dad released the final lantern, a pink one, his daughter's favorite color.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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