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A Heartbreaking Goodbye
By Sandy Vondrasek She never got to be a teenager. Three days before what would have been her thirteenth birthday, Brooke Marie Bennett was laid to rest. "It is the beauty of the blossom—not the length of the bloom—that inspires us," Rev. Ronald E. Rilling reminded the crowd of close to 1000 that gathered under a huge tent yesterday morning for a service of remembrance for Bennett. First as an infant, and then a young child, and now, "forever a 12-year-old," Bennett brought joy and inspiration to those around her, Rilling said. A wide circle of family and friends, including many of Bennett’s seventh-grade classmates at Randolph Union High School, converged under the tent, set up behind RUHS, for the 11 a.m. service. Close to 1000 people came, and attendees included Gov. Jim Douglas and Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, and many of the law enforcement officers who worked around the clock for a week to find Bennett, after she was reported missing Wednesday, June 25. Some of those troopers and federal agents located her body one week later, buried in a shallow grave in Randolph Center, not far from the home of Michael Jacques. Jacques, Bennett’s uncle, now faces a federal charge of kidnapping in connection with Bennett’s disappearance, and further charges are likely, prosecutors have suggested. (See other article for an update on the investigation. Throughout yesterday’s somber service, the five area pastors who co-officiated encouraged, in various ways, Bennett’s family— as well as the wider community—to maintain their hope, trust, and faith in the wake of a horrific crime, one that was built on a violation of trust. "Goodness and love are stronger than the forces of evil," Rev. Rilling said. Those grieving Bennett, Rilling counseled, should not allow themselves to be "further robbed" by losing their joy. For many, strong feelings of anger will arise, and "that is okay," said Rev. Thom Harty. But it is not good, Harty added, to stop there for long. "Take a breath, and think a bit," he said, "about how we respond is what defines our community." Bennett’s "legacy," he continued, should be "Never again." It will require a community working together, Rev. Harty added, to make sure its children are safe. The emotion of the service broke wide open when Bennett’s older sister, Savanna Andress, stepped forward to read a poem. Both the words of the poem and Andress’s tearful voice spoke to the family’s deep despair and pain, and their "hope for morning," and the strength to go forward. A young cousin, Courtney, remembered Brooke as "a bright, beautiful girl," who loved "hanging out" with young friends and family, shopping, and travel. Before the service began, and afterwards, many came forward to pause before the closed casket, and to view photographic collages of Bennett on display. They depicted the 12-year evolution of a girl with wide-set blue eyes and a ready and radiant smile. Brooke Bennett was a sociable soul, friends told The Herald this week, and almost all the photos showed her laughing with friends or family. Remembrances An extrovert’s extrovert, Brooke beamed smiles and big hellos to everyone she’d pass in the hallways of RUHS. With her closest friends she was even more exuberant. "Every morning she would run to me, scream my name, and give me a hug—every morning," recalled Haley Lary of Randolph. "If I was sad, she’d ask what was wrong and we’d talk about it," Lary added. As a seventh-grader, Bennett was in her first year at RUHS this past year, coming from a very small class of 12 from Braintree Elementary School. Also at RUHS for her first year was RUHS’s new middle school guidance counselor, Kara Mercer of Warren. "Brooke was outgoing and sociable, friendly and personable," Mercer said. "I literally I remember her from the first day of school." Mercer was also struck by the pre-teen’s openness and honesty. Mercer said that on that first day of school, she sought out a group of Braintree kids, knowing that the transition to a big school can be tough. Bennett, she said, didn’t hesitate to express her truth: "Oh, I am so nervous!" She made new friends, kept the old, and was always surrounded by a group, Mercer said. "She was an excellent student—she did well," she added. "In many ways she was a typical middle-schooler, with the kinds of problems middle-schoolers have, but she had more personality than lot of people do," recalled RUHS Asst. Principal David Barnett this week. "She was a very social, outgoing young lady, always with a gleam in her eye—whether because she was having fun doing something productive, or whether she was up to some level of mischief—and she certainly wasn’t adverse to getting into some difficulties in school," Barnett said. As a result, Bennett "visited" his office a few times—bringing that "gleam in her eye" each time. "It let me know that Brooke Bennett was walking in the door, and I had better be ready," Barnett said. Deb Lary, RUHS health teacher and Haley’s mom, summoned up these words to describe her daughter’s good friend: "Fun, energy, lively spirit, always motivated try new things, not a mean bone in her body." Some students might be too shy or too cool to greet a teacher in the hall, but not the "bubbly" Bennett. "She always—always—said ‘Hi, Mrs. Lary.’" Nancy Frenette, principal at Braintree Elementary, remembers especially Bennett’s "contagious smile," and her "caring for younger students." Bennett assiduously watched out for a kindergartner her family knew, and took a "personal" pride in her duties in sixth grade, as an assigned "buddy" to a younger student at the school, Frenette said. An obituary for Brooke Bennett appears in the B-section of this week’s Herald. |
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