Utah community mourns, celebrates victims of Sandy Hook Elementary shooting

Karen Parker, Emilie's grandmother, remembered visiting her in Albuquerque, N.M., last year for Thanksgiving and watching her at a dance recital. Even when Emilie wasn't dancing, she was sitting properly watching the other dancers, she said.

"As I looked at her, I said to myself, 'That's a picture of perfection,'" Karen Parker recalled.

This Sunday, Emilie was supposed to be the angel in her church nativity scene in Newtown.

Thursday, an "angel tree" was set up in her honor at the atrium stage inside the school. All of the 200 ornaments hanging from it were angels sent from Newtown by either shops that donated them or residents who made them by hand. Special lighting gave the tree a pink tint.

Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell told Robbie Parker how much he admired him for staying so strong the past week and promised him that he had the city's support. He also commented on how every craft and grocery store in Ogden was sold out of pink ribbons.

"Thank you for allowing our community to share in this experience," Caldwell said.

A funeral service for Emilie will be held Saturday. The family has asked that the service be for family members and close friends only, but they are encouraging the public to line the funeral procession between the Rock Cliffs LDS Stake Center, 1000 Suncrest Drive, and Myers Evergreen Memorial Park, 100 Monroe Blvd. They are encouraging the community to post pink ribbons for Emilie and green and white ribbons to show support for the other victims and their families in Newtown.

In addition, 500 drawings made by classmates of one of Emilie's cousins will be displayed along the funeral route.

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