More funerals held for victims of Newtown shooting

Updated at 8:55 p.m. ET

NEWTOWN, Conn. A single bell tolled Thursday at the Connecticut funeral of a 6-year-old girl killed by a gunman at her elementary school, while a cardinal in New York compared a slain teacher to Jesus for giving up her life to protect others.

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Victims of Conn. school shooting

In Newtown, the site of the shooting rampage, grim-faced mourners hurried through the packed parking lot of St. Rose of Lima Church to attend the funeral Mass for 6-year-old Catherine Hubbard.

Catherine's family said in her obituary that she would be remembered for her passion for animals and her constant smile.

Catherine was among the 20 students and six teachers killed when Adam Lanza, armed with a military-style assault rifle, broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14 and opened fire. Lanza killed his mother at her home before the attack and committed suicide at the school as police closed in.

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Marty Folan, a retired corrections officer who volunteers as an emergency medical technician in Newtown and responded to Friday's attack, told CBS News correspondent Seth Doane he cut himself off from the world when it was all over.

"I isolated myself," said Folan. "I basically went home, didn't answer the phone calls from the many friends and family and members here ... I just don't want to hear about it, don't want to see it. It was all over the news, and I didn't want any more part of it. I could not- I could not hear it anymore."

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Funerals were also scheduled in Connecticut on Thursday for 7-year-old Grace McDonnell and 6-year-olds Benjamin Andrew Wheeler, Jesse Lewis and Allison Wyatt, and a memorial was held for teacher Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau.

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In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan told mourners at the funeral of 52-year-old Anne Marie Murphy that the teacher "brought together a community, a nation, a world, now awed by her own life and death."

Murphy's father, Hugh McGowan, said authorities told him that she died trying to protect her young pupils. Her body was found covering a group of children's bodies as if to shield them, McGowan said.

Dolan underscored her sacrifice.

"Like Jesus, Annie laid down her life for her friends," Dolan said. "Like Jesus, Annie's life and death brings light, truth, goodness and love to a world often shrouded in darkness, evil, selfishness and death."

About 15 people arrived at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Katonah, N.Y., in a yellow school bus with "Newtown" written on its side. The church quickly filled and about 100 mourners waited outside.

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Janelle Wingert, of Wyoming, said in an email interview that she met Murphy when they were involved in the same faith-based community service activities in the Newtown area. She said Murphy asked her after 9/11 what she would do if someone attacked a school where she was working.

"She was serious and so intense in the question," Wingert said in a Facebook post. "She died doing exactly what she said she would do — put herself between the gunman and her little ones, who she saw as the most precious of all in God's heart."

Trinity Episcopal church on Newtown's Main Street was filled to capacity for the funeral of Benjamin Wheeler, and scores of mourners who couldn't get in milled about outside. The service for a child described as a lighthouse buff, budding musician and Beatles fan included a rendition of "Here Comes The Sun" and the hymn "Amazing Grace."

Benjamin's five uncles acted as pallbearers. About two dozen Boy Scout leaders lined the front pathway to the church in honor of the former Cub Scout.

Green balloons, the favorite color of 6-year-old Allie Wyatt, peppered the community of Southbury, where her funeral was held.

The Rev. Walter L. Pitman was the lone speaker at the funeral at Sacred Heart Church. He described Allie as a budding artist who covered her family's home in her paintings and drawings and the kind of child who smiled easily, the Danbury News Times reported. He said the girl loved to garden with her mother and was always outside, especially in the summer.

Pitman told those who knew the girl that they were a fortunate group, saying, "At some point over the last six years, Allie Wyatt got in your way and you are better for it." He described the little girl to the few hundred who attended as goofy and funny. He said she loved to read and loved math, and "that alone makes her a saint."

In downtown Danbury, mourners filed into the ornate white-pillared First Congregational Church for a memorial service for teacher Lauren Rousseau. The congregation in the packed church sang "Morning Has Broken" and "Let There Be Peace On Earth."

Friends wept on the altar as they remembered the spirited, hardworking, sunny-natured young woman who loved children and animals, especially cats, and who had always wanted to be a teacher. They spoke of how the 30-year-old brightened their lives with her silliness and gave them all nicknames.

"My husband asked me last night, 'Has this rocked your faith in God?' And I said, 'Absolutely not.' But it's done a few things about my faith in human beings," said minister Pat Kriss, as reported by Doane.

Meanwhile, a memorial service was was held Thursday for Nancy Lanza, the mother of gunman Adam Lanza, CBS Station WBZ Boston reported. According to Kingston, N.H. police, about 25 people attended the service.

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[romans826]

May God have mercy on us all.

[Monashee1]

Sincerest condolences to all of the families and friends of these innocent and heroic victims. Just remember that the NRA will never support a ban on assault weapons as it is the lobbying arm of the US weapons industry. If an assault weapons ban took effect the crazies couldn't murder as many innocents. The NRA will never admit this.

[GIVERSNEVERLACK]

We are all brought into this world to help one another not to kill one another.

[ttsimplejack]

Autistics have gaping holes in their DNA, and are therefore mutants. One cannot expect "normal" human behavior from a being that is indeed subhuman. Enough of the politically correct nonsense with mainstreaming Autistic kids in our schools. The inevitable bullying of these Autistic youths is a recipe for breeding more Adam Lanzas. Institute aggressive mental health screenings, bring back psychiatric facilities that would have kept an Adam Lanza locked up years ago, and fund the Autism research necessary to detect the genetic defects during pregnancy. (Down Syndrome prenatal screening is widely accepted, is it not?) Some form of Eugenics must be introduced to combat the Autism epidemic. Darwinism and natural selection no longer apply to human reproduction. Medicating a person with genetic deficiencies is a band-aid fix. We are weakening the human gene pool by normalizing Autistic spectrum individuals, which allows them to better fit in with society, and increases their odds of reproduction.

[rightontarget]

"weakening the human gene pool"???? Really???? Wow! Hitler was your daddy, right? How about we make assault military style weapons ILLEGAL!! How about we REGULATE the gun industry, be more careful just who, (regardless of autism or any other affliction, even just mental instability and personality disorder) is able to obtain these weapons. Nobody, but nobody needs that kind of fire power unless the deer out there start to wear bullet proof vests, there is no justification to a regular non-military citizen having access to that kind of stuff.

[ttsimplejack]

@Rightontarget... Most people consider breeding standards for our pets to be an acceptable practice to maintain health standards. Why would you not accept health screenings that protect the well-being and quality of your own species? If you have reproduced, you probably already were exposed to prenatal screenings for many other genetic defects, which means you have already embraced Eugenics at some level. Are you completely ignorant as to why prenatal screenings are performed? What is the option you have before that unhealthy baby is born? ;) I wasn't suggesting annihilating beings already walking amongst us, nor was I racially profiling a group.
I do agree that certain types of weapons available to us are obscene. However, an Adam Lanza could just have easily made a few explosive devices, or hacked up those little kids with a machete. Mentally unstable people will always be a danger.

[DunblaneNoMore]

Bald Eagle Turning Into Firebird

I see a bird rising,
firebird,glowing above the embers,
burnished,rising,spreading,
the NRA,Congress,preponderance of guns
falling like ninepins into scuffed cinders;
she is shedding:fledged--ready to fly!

She may fly and burn the Harpies
(who may come to her),a phoenix
above the ashes of the old;

she is glowing and young
as if lit by a taper
on twenty candles.

For New England,
from a Scottish Highlander.

Gregory Shepherd,
Edinburgh.

[WhatWouldJesusDo]

Out of REAL LOVE for the children and the adults who lost their lives so tragically, we all should do some REAL soul-searching! Gun control and heightened security are weak "solutions" to the problem.

First, we'd need a Constitutional amendment to get gun control "passed." Very unlikely. Second, some folks will fear losing their guns (because they also fear the govt) so much that, like Prohibition, a black market will develop. An all-out prohibition: been there, done that -- it doesn't work, as an all-out ban! Third, gun control doesn't address the ROOT of the problem: the person BEHIND the gun! Fourth, people do NOT generally want to search within their own souls for THEIR subtle contributions to the cultural horrors of gun violence.

We Americans glorify violence and we subconsciously worship it as a nation. Just look at the violence we "consume" in our "entertainment." Death and Destruction is embedded in our collective unconscious!

We worship violence so much, we "feed" it to our kids in the form of super-violent video games -- which they can't seem to live without!

Movie-makers care more about $$, than purifying our culture. I have done a LOT of soul-searching and I'm an trying my BEST not to "donate" any more money to violent "entertainment." I think "fear" rules us. Why else would we not be repulsed but, instead,"entertained" by the rampant death and destruction in movies, TV programs, and violent video games?

WE are the problem and we're NOT fixing ourselves any time soon, are we?

[RickB2400]

Well said !!!!

[1988JAck]

And the Republicans are still mute, waiting for their orders from the NRA!

So much for leadership from the GOP, they lead based on what Norquist, the NRA and Koch Brothers say. Enough.

[TellFell]

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, and four other adults; at least 58 people were injured. The perpetrator first killed his wife, then committed suicide with his last explosion. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7-14 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.

[TellFell]

It's happened before: Lest we never forget: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

[closethippy1]

A good example of how the US became awashed with high power weapons is the Beretta handgun used by most of the police in the US. Before the police adopted the Beretta as their gun of choice they used to have the 6 bullet revolver but the Beretta compnay wanted to change that. So what they did was to offer their guns to the US military at the lowest price and the military bought a whole bunch of Beretta guns.
The Beretta company then used this as a selling point to the police, telling them how even the military sees the value of their guns, and the police bought into it.
The Beretta company then went after the average Joe to sell their guns. And so there you have it: From the US military to US Main street where sooner than later everyone, including criminals and gangs, began buying and using a gun that can fire 15 to 30 rounds in seconds.
The most pathetic aspect of all this is how the NRA freaks will argue that they need to be armed with more sophisticated weapons than the Beretta to defend themselves instead of seeing how they're being played like a bunch of fools by the weapons industry.