- Publication: Athens Daily News
- Author: Joan Stroer, Staff Writer
- Original Publication Date: Tuesday, April 28, 1992
“Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I. You are you… Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used to… Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. It is the same as it ever was.” — excerpt of an Irish poem read at the funeral of Jennifer Lynn Stone
DULUTH — About 400 friends and family gathered to grieve the loss of Jennifer Stone at the The Church of Saint Benedict here Monday morning.
After the Catholic service, about 100 mourners left the hilltop Roswell church and traveled under cloudy skies to Arlington Memorial Park cemetery for her burial.
“We come together today to say thank you to Jennifer for all the blessings and happiness that you’ve given us — for all the things you’ve been to all of us,” the Rev. Joseph Peacock told a tearful crowd. “Thank you for giving her to us all these years.”
During the funeral, Peacock comforted the mourners, struggling with the sudden, brutal nature of her death. Many of the mostly young, mostly non-Catholic crowd were sorority sisters and friends from the university.
“When an older person dies you always think that they lived a good life and they’re ready to go,” he said. “But when a young person dies, then you begin to say, what happened? Why is God letting this happen?
“We put our faith in God. Trust Him when everything else seems to fall apart, trust Him when we don’t know any answers to questions.”
After the eulogy, which evoked the Biblical tale of Lazarus, brought back to life by Jesus after four days of death, Peacock invited comments from the congregation. Art Gray, a family friend, read poems and statements.
A letter from The Lovett School where Ms. Stone graduated in 1988 called for a “speedy and just resolution to the circumstances surrounding her death.”
A statement from University of Georgia officials was also read, announcing Ms. Stone’s degree from the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, expected this June, will be awarded posthumously.
A poem chosen by her parents, Ray and Joan Stone, was read — “To Those I Love.”
“If I should ever leave you, whom I love, to go along a separate way, grieve not. You’ll speak of me with tears — but laugh and talk as if I was there beside you, for I am loving you just like I always have.”
At the end of the service, Peacock waved incense over the casket, positioned at the front of the church.
“We pray for God to come her aid. Receive her soul — Give her eternal rest, O Lord.”
The congregation then left for the burial at Arlington Memorial Park.
In Athens, investigators ended the four-day search of the scene of Ms. Stone’s murder at about 3 p.m. — a search which has yet to reveal a suspect. Two uniformed police officers will patrol the Hull Street residence until Ms. Stone’s family members pick up her remaining personal items.
Ms. Stone’s 22-year-old life came to an end April 23 when she was raped and strangled to death in her off-campus house.
Ms. Stone is survived by her parents, four sisters, three brothers-in-law, one niece and three nephews. Memorial contributions can be made to Safe Campuses Now, care of Dave Blount of the university, or to North Fulton Charities.
The Catholic Center will hold the university’s memorial service Wednesday at 4 p.m.