01-06-2012, 07:15 AM
The News-Sentinel
“A friend to everyone, happy, smiling, she never held a grudge.” This was how Aliahna Lemmon's teachers and classmates at Holland Elementary School described her.
J. Michael Caywood, Holland Elementary School principal, shared these remarks during a memorial service Thursday evening for the nine-year-old third-grader who was brutally killed Dec. 22. Family friend Michael Plumadore allegedly confessed the killing to police after a three-day search of the area around Lemmon's home.
Haywood had brought a picture, part of a mural, which was an outline of Lemmon's left hand. She had drawn the picture as part of a school-wide project. Inside the hand was a smiling face, with stars for eyes and a heart for her tongue. Haywood said the picture would become part of a permanent memorial the school is designing for her.
Several hundred people came to the First Assembly of God, 1400 W. Washington Center Road, to support the family and remember Aliahna. Through prayer and song, memories and sermons, an attempt was made to make some sense of the tragedy.
Nine rows of family members were present, but only one spoke.
“Do not stand by my grave and cry … I am not there, I didn't die,” read Elisabeth Sepponen, a cousin, as she concluded Mary Frye's “Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep.”
At the front of the church, a large portrait of Aliahna was flanked by a framed tie-dyed t-shirt with messages to her written on the fabric, along with several smaller photographs. Nine vases of flowers in shades of pink, purple, blue and white were on either side of the photos. A large floral star in yellow and white carnations sat at one end of the display. Stuffed bears of all sizes, color and shapes were arranged around the flowers and photographs, a visual reminder the memorial service was for a child.
Many children were in the audience, possibly some of her former schoolmates. Before the service started, images from Aliahna's short life flashed across the screen – many showing her wide-eyed, smiling face, and one of her posing with a purple frosted birthday cake.
gallery of cakes? her death is being used to sell cakes?
![[Image: guest+house.JPG]](http://media.indianasnewscenter.com/images/600*400/guest+house.JPG)
“A friend to everyone, happy, smiling, she never held a grudge.” This was how Aliahna Lemmon's teachers and classmates at Holland Elementary School described her.
J. Michael Caywood, Holland Elementary School principal, shared these remarks during a memorial service Thursday evening for the nine-year-old third-grader who was brutally killed Dec. 22. Family friend Michael Plumadore allegedly confessed the killing to police after a three-day search of the area around Lemmon's home.
Haywood had brought a picture, part of a mural, which was an outline of Lemmon's left hand. She had drawn the picture as part of a school-wide project. Inside the hand was a smiling face, with stars for eyes and a heart for her tongue. Haywood said the picture would become part of a permanent memorial the school is designing for her.
Several hundred people came to the First Assembly of God, 1400 W. Washington Center Road, to support the family and remember Aliahna. Through prayer and song, memories and sermons, an attempt was made to make some sense of the tragedy.
Nine rows of family members were present, but only one spoke.
“Do not stand by my grave and cry … I am not there, I didn't die,” read Elisabeth Sepponen, a cousin, as she concluded Mary Frye's “Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep.”
At the front of the church, a large portrait of Aliahna was flanked by a framed tie-dyed t-shirt with messages to her written on the fabric, along with several smaller photographs. Nine vases of flowers in shades of pink, purple, blue and white were on either side of the photos. A large floral star in yellow and white carnations sat at one end of the display. Stuffed bears of all sizes, color and shapes were arranged around the flowers and photographs, a visual reminder the memorial service was for a child.
Many children were in the audience, possibly some of her former schoolmates. Before the service started, images from Aliahna's short life flashed across the screen – many showing her wide-eyed, smiling face, and one of her posing with a purple frosted birthday cake.
gallery of cakes? her death is being used to sell cakes?