Services held for 6 more Sandy Hook victims

NEWTOWN -- Services for six more victims of Newtown shooter Adam Lanza, whose rampage last Friday was the nation's second-deadliest school shooting were held Thursday.

Speakers at a memorial service for Lauren G. Rousseau recalled her as a hard worker whose sense of humor could be counted on. There was a standing-room only crowd at the First Congregational Church in Danbury, and many more mourners outside, listening to Rousseau's memorial service through the doors. The service began at 11 a.m., with the tolling of church bells. There was a line of mourners a block long when calling hours for the 30 year-old teacher began at the church an hour earlier.

The young woman, who had recently begun teaching at Sandy Hook Elementary, "was like a kid in many ways,'' her father, Gilles Rousseau, said. "That's why she liked working with kids so much. She died with her little kids.''

Trees in Southbury, where Allison Wyatt's funeral is being held, were decorated with green balloons, the little girl's favorite color. The parking lot of Sacred Heart Church in Southbury is slowly filling up. The 6 year-old's funeral began at 11. Allison loved to garden with her mother and was always outside, especially in summer.

Allie was a vibrant, funny 6-year-old girl. She was a budding artist who covered her family's home in her paintings and drawings. She was the kind of child who smiled easily and wouldn't hesitate to share her Goldfish crackers with a stranger.

That how Allie, one of 20 children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, was remembered at her funeral at Sacred Heart Church in Southbury.

"You are a very fortunate group," said the Rev. Walter L. Pitman, who led the service. "At some point over the past six years, Allie Wyatt got in your way and you are better for it."

No family or friends spoke at the service, attended by a few hundred people. It was only Pitman who is actually a senior pastor at another church in Southbury.

He said he didn't know the Wyatt family before last week's tragedy, but has spent some time over the past few days getting to know them and their beloved Allie.

"She was goofy," Pittman said. "She was funny. She had her two grandfathers wrapped around her finger and she knew it."

Allie loved to read, Pittman said. She loved math. "That alone makes her a saint," he said,

A funeral Mass for Catherine Violet Hubbard began at 10 a.m. at St. Rose of Lima Church, followed with burial at St. Rose Cemetery here. The 6 year-old's parents asked for prayers for all of the victims and their families. "We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet, and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy," Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard said. "We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy."

About 400 people gathered at Honan Funeral Home in Newtown for Jesse Lewis' wake. Outside, officers on horseback and motorcycles waited while friends and family, crying and embracing, packed inside the small funeral home.

Family friends Amanda Caroll and Erin Keaney shivered and sobbed as they talked about the "smiley" boy who loved horses.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52, a paraprofessional at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was buried today at St. Joseph Cemetery in Somers, N.Y., following a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Katonah.

Raised in Katonah, Murphy loved to paint and was the sixth of seven children in her family. She was an aide to a special needs student at the school. Cardinal Timothy Dolan attended suburban New York funeral. There were light hearted moments, such as when Dolan noted that scores of McGowans were present. Anne Marie had attended local parochial schools before going on to nearby Southern Connecticut State University for a master's degree in education.

"Anyone here Irish?" Dolan asked. The congregation broke into laughter. Many mourners had spent the minutes before the service catching up on the comings and goings of various extended family members in a tight knit clan that brought far flung cousins together for the first time in years.

A funeral for Benjamin Wheeler, 6, one of the 20 children shot to death in the rampage, started at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church here. Burial will be private.

Benjamin's family moved to Newtown last April and the little boy loved following his father around the house and yard, helping with chores, and playing with his big brother Nate.