From Deseret News archives:

Services honor 4 Virginia Tech shooting victims

Published: Sunday, April 22, 2007 12:12 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
EVANS, Ga. — About 100 members of the Virginia Tech marching band played in a memorial service Saturday for bandmate Ryan Clark, remembered as a gregarious young man who went to lengths to make fellow students feel included.

Clark, a 22-year-old from Martinez, Ga., was one of the first victims of Seung-Hui Cho, the brooding loner who gunned down 32 people on campus and killed himself Monday.

Hundreds of mourners packed the gymnasium at Clark's former high school to hear rousing songs from his former bandmates and praise for the young man with a contagious laughter who engaged everyone.

"That's how Ryan was. He was the type of person that gave his all," band director David McKee said.

Clark was in his fifth year in the Marching Virginians, which traveled to this small eastern Georgia town for the service at Lakeside High School, where Clark and his twin, Bryan, graduated in 2002.

In Virginia, more than 1,800 people packed St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Chantilly for a service for Reema Samaha, who was killed while sitting in French class.

A large photograph of Samaha, smiling and dressed in white, sat on an easel in front of the church's altar. White flowers, including lilies, were placed nearby.

Friends and family remembered the 18-year-old from Centreville, Va., as a dancer who loved movement and grace.

Story continues below
Lisa Samaha, a cousin from Lebanon, said, "Dance was her world, and she was our star."

For more than an hour after the service, crowds gathered outside the church to share memories of the young woman.

"Reema's last name means forgiveness," her father, Joe Samaha, told the crowd. He offered condolences to the families of other victims, as well as Cho's family, "which has also lost a son."

A memorial service was also held Saturday in Virginia for Emily Hilscher, who was killed in the same dorm as Clark, a resident adviser.

About 1,500 people filled the football field of Hilscher's alma mater, Rappahannock County High School in Washington. The memorial was held outside on a warm spring day because Hilscher, 19, of Woodville, loved the outdoors and horseback riding. Several people came in riding outfits, and a hunting horn was played at the end of the service.

Hilscher's family described a woman with a strong will, a keen sense of fun and a maturity that made her a role model for the rest of her family. She taught her sister, Erica, to drive stick shift on her prized truck, staying with it even when her older sibling stalled in the middle of the road.

"I admired her strength, her ability to be the rock," Erica Hilscher said.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
Manuel Balce Ceneta, Associated Press

Mona Samaha, left, the mother of Reema Samaha, comforts a friend of her daughter during a convocation.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

Letters: Liberal because LDS

In response to the 9:41 post: No where is it taught that an individual is...

Aggie 'D' holds BYU to season low

Not enough quick ball movement on offense. That is BYU's problem. They were...

re -- true conservative | 9:07 a.m ["Abortion should not be legalized,...

"The Utes can stop with their "holier than thou" attitude. It gets annoying."...

Aggies shoot past Cougars

The reason why YBU's home streak was so good is because everytime someone...

Letters: Liberal because LDS

My Grandmother was born and raised in Orderville, UT, where she practiced...

Thank you Jerry. We are lucky to have such a great coach. It will be sad to...

N.Y. Senate rejects gay marriage

"I sincerely hope that we can learn to live with a situation in which gays...

Sloan gets 1-year extension

Who in their right mind would take Byron Scott over Jerry Sloan - what has...

Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest...

Advertisements