Emilie Parker laid to rest
Posted at: 12/22/2012 4:17 PM
| Updated at: 12/22/2012 6:20 PM
By: Maria Guerrero, KOB Eyewitness News 4
The last of the victims of the Connecticut mass shooting have been laid to rest this weekend.
That includes a special little girl who lived in Rio Rancho last year.
In loving memory, family and friends sent Emilie Parker off in a white casket fit for a princess.
People lined the streets in preparation of the funeral procession Saturday morning.
"Today we had a beautiful tribute to Emilie," said Emilie's aunt, Jill Cottle Garrett. "We said our final goodbye's today. It was so special to have family together to sing song that were Emilie's favorites and to just see the hall filled with pink flowers . It was fancy. And that's what Emilie lived her life is celebrating life and everything was special."
Cameras weren't allowed inside during the funeral service, but reporters were.
It was a celebration of a short, but beautiful life in which a 6-year-old lived and loved all of those around here.
Emilie's cousins sang Christmas music for good reason.
"This past Sunday, Emilie and her sisters were to sing in a Christmas performance," said Cottle Garrett. "She had been practicing these songs and we sang them to her because she was unable to sing them to us."
Cottle Garrett's son spoke during the service about visiting his cousins in Rio Rancho. He said the life that Emilie lived will help them heal.
"Emilie was an example to not only her big sisters, to her family, to all her little friends and now she's become an example to the world about purity, innocence, tragedy and forgiveness," Jill Cottle Garrett said.
At times, Robbie Parker broked down as he spoke about his beloved daughter.
Emilie, he said, never gave up, whether it was in her drawings or lifting the burden off her parents.
She always wanted to look fancy. She loved to read to her sisters. She was strong in her Mormon faith just like her parents.
In a moment that touched everyone, Robbie said when they talked to Emilie about her grandfather dying suddenly in a bicycle accident a few months ago, Emilie looked at her day and said, 'I think Heavenly Father misses me.'
During the service, the governor of Utah said the best way to honor Emilie is to better our own lives and try to lighten the burden of others like Emilie did in her short, sweet life.
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