Tears Flow At Funeral For Dawson College Shooting Victim
Posted September 19, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Where the sad ceremonies are usually draped in black, this one was partially awash in pink.
It was a tribute to the lost life of Anastasia De Sousa, the lone student fatality in the Dawson College shooting rampage last week.
Hundreds of people crowded an east end Montreal church Tuesday to say farewell to the 18-year-old, the most prominent victim of killer Kimveer Gill’s terrible revenge.
Family, friends and even total strangers turned out at the final farewell for the promising young girl, who spoke three languages, loved to travel and made pink her signature colour.
Her sister reduced the crowd to tears when she remembered Anastasia as a sibling who was a blood relative by chance – and a best friend by choice.
Like everyone in attendance, she knew something special had been taken from the world much too early.
“I never thought this day would be so soon,” Sarah De Sousa proclaimed in her emotional eulogy. “I had expectations we would share the future.”
De Sousa’s coffin was draped in the white flag of the school where she met her end, as a procession of the famous – including Premier Jean Charest and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay – and the ordinary all paid their respects.
Among those in the crowd – one of those injured in the shooting spree.
Cameras and reporters were kept out of the ceremony, adhering to the family’s request for privacy on the worst day of their lives. But Monsignor Michel Parent reveals it was a simple service that reflected the young woman who was lost.
“It was a moment of intimacy between all those people who were so sad…suffering by this abrupt end.”
The skies were cloudy and grey – the perfect reflection of the sombre emotions on the day. Many broke down and cried when the casket bearing the victim’s remains was taken out of the church for the very last time.
“It was hard when she was being carried,” agrees Nadya Kidikoglu. “Those are the hardest parts, like when you actually see the coffin. We’re too young to feel something like this, I find.”
Friends who knew the promising youngster are having trouble accepting that she’s gone.
“It’s extremely unreal,” Karian Douglas admits. “I don’t feel like she’s really gone yet. Like it hasn’t really sunk in completely 100 percent. Now I know that it’s real, but it’s still inside me, it doesn’t feel real.”
“She’s amazing. She was a Malibu Stacy,” remembers Gilda Ciccone. “She was the Barbie doll. She was gorgeous. She was hilarious. She was the life of the party. She was a living firecracker. She was incredible, and she still is.”
“She would always laugh and she had the nicest smile,” Ashleigh McRae reflects. “Her smile would just brighten up the room.”
Pink was Anastasia’s favourite colour and many wore the shade in her honour.
“She always wore pink, even if it was underneath her T-shirt, if it was on her shoes, her pencil case,” recalls Kidikoglu. “All her pens were pink. She just loved the colour pink so I just wore it in remembrance of her.”
De Sousa leaves behind her parents, two younger siblings, her grandparents and many, many friends.
The family’s website is now up and running. You can leave your note of condolence for them by clicking here.
- In a grim footnote and at almost at the same time as the service was underway, a much smaller funeral was held in Montreal for Gill. There was a sparse turnout. The media weren’t allowed in and police were outside the funeral home to keep the curious away.
