MEDFORD, Mass. — With the horror of the Boston Marathon bombings a week in the past, two communities carved out space for quiet remembrance on Monday, bidding farewell to Krystle Campbell and Lu Lingzi, the two young women claimed by the blasts at the race’s finish line.
Ms. Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager who tried to attend the marathon every year, was buried after a Roman Catholic Mass in this middle-class Boston suburb where she grew up. Hundreds of family members and friends, as well as Gov. Deval Patrick and Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, attended the ceremony at St. Joseph’s Church, filing inside as a single bell tolled.
The church filled up quickly, leaving at least 100 mourners, including Julia Dziamba, 21, a college student who worked under Ms. Campbell at the Summer Shack, to linger outside and reflect with their own remembrances. “She always had a smile on her face, even if she was mad at us for not cleaning up or getting things done on time,” Ms. Dziamba said.
A cohort of police officers lined up as people entered and exited, representing many of the law enforcement agencies deeply tied to the week’s events. The group included members of the transit police, one of whose officers was wounded in a shootout with the bombing suspects; officers from Harvard, where Ms. Campbell used to work in food service; and officers from Medford and Arlington, two communities that she called home.
Members of Ms. Campbell’s family did not speak at the service, which was closed to the news media. The Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sang “Ave Maria” as an offertory hymn, and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, offered the service’s final commendation. The Rev. Chip Hines reflected on Ms. Campbell during his homily.
“He talked about how Krystle was a smiling, happy, youthful, selfless person,” said Annemarie Harvey, 52, a family friend from Sandwich, Mass., as she drove from the funeral to Ms. Campbell’s burial at the Oak Grove Cemetery. Ms. Harvey was driving a pickup truck filled with boxes from a recent move that prevented her from attending the marathon last week. “Otherwise I would have been there, probably standing with her,” she said.
At the cemetery, Ms. Campbell’s family and friends gathered in a tight circle around her coffin, which was piled high with orange, coral and pink flowers — the vibrant colors that she liked, her grandmother, Lillian Campbell, explained after the ceremony.
“She didn’t like me if I wore black,” said Ms. Campbell, 79, who wore pink to the funeral to honor her youngest granddaughter. “She wanted me in bright colors all the time. It hasn’t even sunk in. I’ll miss her, that’s for sure. She was my baby girl.”
Ms. Campbell’s funeral was the first for a victim of the marathon bombings. On Monday night, some 850 members of the Boston University community gathered for a memorial for Lu Lingzi, the 23-year-old statistics graduate student killed as she stood with her friends at the finish line. She was a newcomer to this city, originally from China, and she was excited to attend one of the biggest annual events in her adopted home.
“While she was here, she fell in love with Boston and its people,” her parents wrote in anopen letter posted last week on Boston University’s Web site. “We hope that everyone who knew Lingzi, and experienced the positive spirit and joy she had, will help carry on her spirit.”
Her parents, who arrived from China last week, attended the service. “She set her life and career goals early, determined to go abroad and see the world,” said her father, Lu Jun, in a eulogy he delivered in Chinese that was read again in English by Ms. Lu’s uncle, Yee Sherman. “Her compassion, sweet voice and beautiful smiles will stay forever in my heart.”
friends and Boston University faculty members and officials also shared remembrances.
“Neither of us had ever lived in an off-campus apartment and neither of us had boyfriends,” said her roommate, Jing Li, another Chinese graduate student. “We were long-lost sisters and could not wait to begin our adventure in Boston.”
“I had no idea this friendship could only last one year,” Ms. Jing said. “We will keep running to finish the race for you.”
Ms. Lu’s death was deeply resonant within Boston’s community of Chinese expatriates, and the memorial drew a large group of students and young professionals who said her story could easily have been theirs.
Boayuan Tian, 28, of Cambridge, remembered how she, too, had gone to the marathon after she first arrived in Boston five and a half years ago.
“I just feel a connection,” Ms. Tian said.
The university has established a scholarship fund dedicated to Ms. Lu’s memory, to which members of the university’s board of trustees have already contributed over $560,000.
The third person killed in the attack was an 8-year-old boy, Martin Richard.
DEF WANNA SEND MY PRAYERS & CONDOLENCES TO THESE FAMILIES & EVERYONE THAT WAS HURT DURING THE "BOSTON MARATHON"
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