A blue-eyed first grader at Sandy
Hook Elementary School in
Connecticut, Dylan Christopher Jack
Hockley loved trampolines, plain
spaghetti with garlic bread and the
color purple. On Friday, purple was
everywhere at the Walnut Hill
Community Church in nearby Bethel
—his mother’s blouse, his father’s
shirt, his brother’s tie—as hundreds
of people packed in for his funeral.
On Dec. 14, Dylan, who was six-and-
three-quarters and autistic, was killed
in the arms of his special education
teacher, Anne Marie Murphy, when a
lone gunman entered his classroom
and opened fire with a semiautomatic
rifle. Twenty students, five teachers
and the principal were killed at Sandy
Hook in what became one of the worst
mass shootings in American history.
( MORE: The Re-Making of Newtown:
Will Tragedy Make It Stronger? )
Now, as the final funeral processions
weave through the streets of
Newtown, Conn. and surrounding
communities, residents oscillate
between past and present tense while
referring to the victims as they
search for ways to move beyond the
tragedy. The media hordes have
grown smaller but traffic on the main
road through town is still congested,
and while people here were initially
comforted by the roadside memorials
that have sprung up on every other
corner, some say they’re just
distractions that will eventually be
torn down. At one, near the school, a
stuffed bear is gripped protectively
by a larger one, just as Dylan was last
Friday morning.
John Dischinger, one of the pastors at
Walnut Hill, opened the ceremony by
urging the congregation to replace
hatred with love, and darkness with
light, in order to properly celebrate
Dylan’s life. “I don’t know about you,
but I think we’ve had enough
darkness,” he said. A woman on the
stage then began singing
“Hallelujah”—Dylan’s favorite song
from Shrek—rewritten with happier
lyrics for the service.
His mother, Nicole, spoke of the
“special” bonds that Dylan shared
with his teachers, Victoria Soto and
Murphy. “At the firehouse, I was
looking for Mrs. Murphy because I
knew no matter what, she would be
with Dylan,” she said. First-
responders found Murphy cradling
Dylan in her arms—an apparent
effort to shield him and others from
the bullets.
Services for Murphy, 52 and a mother
of four, were held Thursday in
Katonah, N.Y., where she lived before
settling in Newtown. “Annie laid
down her life for her friends,” said
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan,
Archibishop of New York, at her
memorial service. Her life, he said,
and the sacrifice she made for Dylan,
“brings light, truth, goodness and love
to a world often shrouded in
darkness, evil, selfishness and death.”
( MORE: The NRA Responds to
Newtown: America Needs More ‘Good
Guys’ with Guns )
“Her family confirmed to us that she
died trying to protect Dylan,” Nicole
Hockley said at her son’s memorial
service, with her husband Ian by her
side. They took comfort, she said, in
the fact that he wasn’t alone—that he
was never alone.
Throughout the service, friends of the
family approached the podium and
recounted stories of how they came
to know the Hockleys and their
youngest brown-haired boy. One
woman recalled the first time he ate
chocolate cake and how he would
laugh while tirelessly rewinding parts
of movies that he found funny. Above
the stage, two screens displayed
family photos and home movies of
Dylan with his parents and his eight-
year-old brother, Jake. When one clip
showed Dylan popping out of a box on
the floor, grinning, the hall filled with
laughter.
At one point, his mother told a story
about asking Dylan why he would
sometimes flap his arms up and down
when he got excited, as some autistic
children are known to do. She wasn’t
expecting a response because his
language skills were still
underdeveloped, but he did answer:
“Because I am a beautiful butterfly.”
( MORE: Twenty Brighter Stars:
Shocked Conn. Town Mourns Its Slain
Children)
“He helped us to be stronger people
than we might have been without
him,” Dylan’s father said. He and
Nicole moved with the boys from the
U.K. to Newtown almost two years
ago and were convinced that Dylan
would flourish here. “Newtown just
felt right,” he added, thanking the
emergency response personnel who
had aided the community since the
morning of the shooting. “We’ll never
regret this decision.”
Shortly before they finished speaking,
Nicole made a veiled nod to the
renewed nationwide calls for
increased gun control . “I believe that
Dylan and the others are a catalyst,”
she said. “His death will have
meaning. There will be a positive
change from this. We’ll be part of it.
Newtown will be part of it.” Right
before the two stepped off stage to a
standing ovation, Ian concluded their
statements by saying: “We love you
so much, Dylan. Our beautiful,
beautiful butterfly.”
Following the service, the
congregation gathered outside. As a
band played “Amazing Grace,”
Dylan’s brother Jake released 26
balloons—20 of them purple to
represent the children, and six of
them white for the adults — into the
gray, cloudy sky. A moment later, one
final purple balloon was freed,
speeding up to catch to the others.
Clutching Jake close to her, Nicole
wiped a few tears from her eyes and
watched them fly away.
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