USA: School shooting victim six-year-old Dylan Hockley is laid to rest

Record ID: 323782

  • Title: USA: School shooting victim six-year-old Dylan Hockley is laid to rest
  • Date: 21st December 2012
  • Summary: BALLOONS RISING INTO THE AIR ABOVE THE CHURCH MOURNERS WATCHING CEREMONY (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLIVE CARVER, SENIOR PASTOR OF THE BETHEL WALNUT COMMUNITY CHURCH SAYING: "Well, Jake's release of the balloons in his brother's favorite color is a statement that: Yesterdays gone. Now for tomorrow. Dylan will never be forgotten. His memory will live on but now we're going to b
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA206VDDS9BHZEX7L3E02DX3J8
  • Story Text: The funeral for six year-old British boy, Dylan Hockley, one of 20 children gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School was held Friday (December 21)
    Families, many of them with small children, came to honor Dylan in what one grief counselor called a "celebration of life" ceremony.
    "What's significant about this particular memorial is that it was really a celebration," said Dr. Judy Kurinsky, a grief counselor who is counseling the Hockley family. "The family grieved earlier in the week and this was a celebration and there's been a trend for that throughout many communities where first there is the grieving and then there is the celebration of life."
    One week ago, Adam Lanza killed 20 children - all in the first grade and aged six or seven - when he opened fire.
    Six women, including principal Dawn Hochsprung, were also shot dead before Lanza turned his weapon on himself. His mother, Nancy, was found murdered at their home nearby in the close-knit community, located 80 miles northeast of New York City, last week.
    After the funeral service, Dylan's eight-year-old brother Jake, himself a survivor of last week's massacre, released 20 purple balloons in honor of the 20 dead children and 6 white balloons to honor the 6 teachers killed. Purple was Dylan's favorite color.
    "Jake's release of the balloons in his brother's favorite color is a statement that: Yesterdays gone. Now for tomorrow. Dylan will never be forgotten. His memory will live on but now we're going to build for the future and I think that everybody here in Newtown and all of us, because I live there, would value the prayers of the people around the world for tomorrow," Clive Carver, Senior Pastor of the Bethel Walnut Community Church, said.
    The New York Port Authority's bagpipe players performed "Amazing Grace" as the balloons rose into the sky.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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