Conn. funeral directors recall horror of Newtown school shooting

[cali]

SOUTHBURY, Conn. (AP) — As she recalled the afternoon of Dec. 14, Nicole Paquette, past president of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association, stopped to compose herself, but the tears kept running down her face.

"I will never forget reading the fax," Paquette said. "We all knew young children were killed, but when we saw their names, then the comma, and then the numbers 6 or 7 after their names, for their age, we all broke down."

Paquette and dozens of funeral directors who served or volunteered to help the families of 20 students and six educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown held a moving service Saturday during which they recalled the shooting and acknowledged how they all came together for the unfathomable work before them.

<snip>

Specifically recognized was Dan Honan, of Honan Funeral Home in Newtown, the only funeral home in Newtown. Fellow funeral directors called his efforts heroic.

Honan, who spent all of his life in Newtown, had the unspeakable task of laying to rest 11 first-graders in five days.

<snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/02/newtown-shooting-funeral-directors/1886537/

[Robb]

1. Och.

[CTyankee]

2. Oh, lordy...what a sad, sad duty. My heart aches for them and for the families.

This is a sad, sad thing...my heart dies...

[Ilsa]

3. I don't know if I could handle the trauma

of being a first responder there or a funeral home worker in those circumstances. It's so horrifying. I have a deep respect for those professionals.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. I just can't process something like this. Its still hard even today.

[cali]

5. I understand. I posted it because I thought these people

deserve acknowledgement.

[Hekate]

7. They do deserve acknowledgment.

The bereaved look to them for compassion, understanding, professional expertise, and everything else at such a time. Yet they are part of the community too, and when the community is reeling from such a blow, they are too.

We've had neighbors die of old age and illness -- sad, but to be expected. But a whole classroom full of children murdered staggers the mind.

Thanks for this article, cali.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. No, I didn't mean that, I glad you posted it. I mean I am still trying to process

children being murdered with several bullet holes in their bodies. It's just so hard to understand that.. The anger this young man had is way behond understanding. His mother knew what she had at home and she did nothing to protect the neighbors and the school. Much of the blame goes to her. These first responders, funeral directors and hospital drs must have nightmares over it.

[CrispyQ]

17. Me too, SYB, me too.

I can't even imagine. I still tear up when I think about it.

[southernyankeebelle]

18. I think what bothers me more than anything is the leader of the NRA. I feel he works

for the gun corporation and they don't give a damn about children.

[SheilaT]

6. I know that I cannot even begin to imagine.

Several years ago I went to a website that posted pictures of people who'd died from gunshots. I'm almost sorry I did that, except that it taught me that what you see on TV or in a movie is NOTHING like the reality of what gunshots do to a human body. Nothing. All I can say is that those sweet, adorable children whose pictures we've seen would have not even remotely resembled those pictures after they were shot.

I sometimes think that the NRA needs to see before and after photos of those children. If they can still advocate for guns after that, then they have no souls.

[freshwest]

9. +1

[dsc]

10. If I were editor of the NYT or the Washington Post or USA Today

I would have, over the fold, every single day until real gun control was passed, a color photo of a victim of Sandy Hook and then every dead kid I could find. I would rub this country's nose in the natural consequence of its love affair with guns until it was over.

[apocalypsehow]

11. +1000. n/t.

[sad-cafe]

14. if every print media did that it might have an impact

Martin Bashir has been doing similar things.

[SheilaT]

15. Yep. You've got it.

In my state (New Mexico) I've been paying particular attention to the gun deaths here (as well as those reported from elsewhere since Sandy Hook) and I am totally enraged. It's not mental illness. It's not anything except the guns. We are a nation armed to insanity. I have become a supporter of taking away the guns. I understand that many do not agree with my position, but I keep on pointing out that it's what the UK did after Dunblane, Scotland, and what Australia did after their own massacre. I am so incredibly sick of anything but the total confiscation of guns, that I'm not entirely rational on this concept.

It's the guns, pure and simple. Take the guns away, and we won't be losing 30 people per day to guns.

[apocalypsehow]

12. Kick & Rec. n/t.

[WillyT]

13. K & R !!!

[Whovian]

16. A very sad K&R