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In readings from Scripture in lay terms, the Rev. John Andrew Connell tried to soothe mourners’ anguish.
"Why do bad things happen to good people?’’ said Connell, pastor of the church. "Why is life at times so unfair? There are no definitive answers.’’
Connell said death was but a walk through a shadow, assuring mourners that Crossan was now beginning "a new way of living.’’
Connell’s promise was echoed by the contrast between the solemnity of the service and the bright sunshine reflected off the snow outside.
In a service that lasted nearly two hours, Crossan’s family sat bathed in the light that streamed down through the church’s stained glass windows.
Teen- and middle-aged mourners alike wept, as the bittersweet melody of "Ave Maria,’’ sung to simple piano accompaniment, filled the church. One young man standing among mourners in the rear of the full sanctuary had to be propped up by friends after nearly fainting.
A young man described by the pastor as "Greg, a friend of Lauren’s,’’ wept openly, recalling how nervous he was asking her for a date for the first time, and staring into "the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.’’
Afterward, the teen’s silver casket was borne out of the church in a procession led by two dozen young girls carrying candles. It was taken for burial at Locust Hill Cemetery in nearby Dover.
Clusters of friends consoled each other in the chilly air. Some were too distraught to relate their feelings, while others tried to express their shock at Crossan’s death thousands of miles away, the precise cause of which remained a mystery.
"It’s weird just talking about it,’’ said Will Mravlag, 18, a senior classmate at Randolph High School, just down the road from the church. "It’s hard to believe. She was so excited about it. That’s all she talked about in English class.’’
Police in Hawaii said Crossan fell from a ninth-floor room, registered to two Folsom, Calif., men she met at the hotel shortly after she arrived to the island Jan. 11.
Police said Crossan went to the room of Erik Larson, 20, and Donald Devorss, 19, sometime that night.
Her nude body was found the next morning by a hotel guest. Her clothes were later found on the floor of the men’s hotel room.
A preliminary autopsy showed evidence of alcohol in Crossan’s system, but no alcohol containers or any other drugs were found in the room from which she fell.
Police have classified the death as an accident, but are continuing to investigate.
Crossan’s parents have hired Maui attorney James Krueger to conduct an independent investigation of her death.
