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 Mourners embrace after the funeral for Mercedes Pepper in Medicine Hat Friday. (Lyle Aspinall, QMI Agency) |
MEDICINE HAT - The short life of a little "princess" was recounted in a few dozen photos shared in a heartbreaking slideshow.
While a tiny coffin, less than a metre in length, and a chapel full of teary-eyed mourners spoke to its ugly and unexpected end.
Without any answers to offer about her slaying, a pastor presiding over a funeral for Mercedes Christine Pepper, urged mourners to take comfort in one another and faith the toddler is now in heaven, safely out of harm's way.
Pastor Jay Dryland said the death of the little girl, just a few months shy of her second birthday, is not part of God's plan.
"Even if we had the answers there would still be no adequate explanation for this loss," he said.
"It is just painful and it is painful to God.
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"It is not the will of the Father. God did not will Mercedes' death or your pain, but God is with you."
The blue-eyed 19-month-old child died July 20, two days after being rushed to hospital from a Medicine Hat day home with what police claim to be critical head injuries.
She was the only child of Sarah Hemstra and Darren Pepper.
Friday mourners gathered at Pattison Chapel where photographs and flowers were placed on four white pillars up front.
A teddy bear was leaned up against a photo of Mercedes as a chubby infant cradled in the hands of an adult while another framed photo -- a family portrait with her parents -- captured the girl as a toddler in a fancy dress, with but a smattering of light-coloured hair, held tightly in her mommy's arms.
Mourners stood as two men pushed in an off-white coffin as Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven played.
In a eulogy, the tyke was remembered as a "beautiful princess" to her parents, and "grandma's little angel" -- an energetic girl who loved to run, dance and at times climb up on the sofa to sit "like a big girl" between mom and dad.
Dryland noted the child's name means, 'mercy,' something he prayed for God to extend to all those suffering in the aftermath of the girl's death.
"We are not here today to answer questions, even if we could," he told those at the funeral.
"We are here to mourn "_. we are here to weep."
And in this city of about 60,000, some 300 km east of Calgary, Mercedes's family is not alone.
Thousands of people, some from as far away as Calgary, have opened their heart and wallets to help the family she leaves behind.
Some 2,000 people have joined a Facebook site set up to offer prayers for Mercedes, while in just a few days about $12,000 worth of donations, from airline tickets to hotel stays and autographed sports memorabilia, have flooded in to go towards an online auction.
All the funds raised will go to the family to cover any financial costs and also show the community is rallied at their side, said one of the organizers, Ashley Christianson.
The mother of three said the auction is being planned, (www.32auctions.com) because it's doing something at a time when little can be done.
"Everywhere you go people are taking about it," she said.
"There's been a huge outpouring of support for the family, we all have one common goal to help the family.
"You come home after hearing something like this and you want to hug your kids a little bit longer, kiss them goodnight ten more times," the mother of three said.
"It's heartbreaking."
Donations can also be made to a trust fund called "Sarah Hemstra for Mercedes," at any TD Bank branch.
Erin Jackman, 23, who owns the day home, is now charged with manslaughter and failure to provide the necessities of life in Mercedes' death.
nadia.moharib@sunmedia.ca