New Haven Independent

The cars piled up early, and from all approaches, Saturday morning ahead of the 10 a.m. funeral at which Lee was laid to rest. By the time the service at East Rock Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses began, cars — and a few school buses - lined streets and lots that all led up a mountain, overlooking a peaceful Evergreen Lake, toward the Kingdom Hall.

Every room in the building had filled, too: hundreds of friends and classmates, family from across Connecticut and New York, even New Haven residents who never met Lee but knew of her smile — and of the tragedy that took her too soon from her two grief-stricken parents, Jeffrey and Martha, and three siblings, Jeffrey, Juliet and Allison Lee.

The family requested that no interviews be conducted during Saturday’s services, which, all in all, lasted through the early afternoon. But everyone’s reason for coming out proved palpable. Those who did not know her wept. Neighbors hugged one another. The elderly bowed heads on wheelchairs in solemn prayer; children, including one who kept repeating the mantra, “I wish she was just in a coma,” found rare solace in silence as they listened to the sound of ministers, who spoke both in Spanish and English, praying for the fifth-grader’s salvation.

Above all, there was contemplation of an Elm City College Prep student who left an impression as a deeply religious and gregarious girl. Dozens simply stared at walls in cramped white rooms, with nowhere to look but inside.

Lee died after a dark Volkswagen Jetta — still on the loose — hit her as she crossed Whalley Avenue on her way to the Top Kat Super Laundromat. Anyone with information on the accident is urged to contact the police department at 203-946-8584.

Her death, the second recently to befall a resident crossing the street, prompted a renewed call for safe streets, such at this meeting of Elm City Cycling and among police. Mila Rainof, a Yale medical student, died in late April when crossing the intersection at York Street and South Frontage.

Following a tearful service, hundreds of mourners stayed seated out of respect to Lee’s immediate family (pictured below, with Gabby against her father), who left the funeral service first and, around noon, carried her casket, while sobbing, into the crisp Saturday afternoon. But first, everyone joined in prayer, from all corners of the two-story congregation, connected not by sight or sound but by a common memory. “Life Without End — At Last!” emanated from the congregation.

A more intimate burial, followed by a reception at the Elks Lodge on School Street in Hamden, came next as hundreds of mourners made the migration. At the Lodge, they encountered dozens of tributes to Lee as they ate and mingled, such as poster boards depicting her playing in the water or holding friends and family close.

It also featured a self-portrait (pictured) as well as a poem, “Where I Am From,” that Lee authored as a student — windows, perhaps, into a soul fulfilled, even in the span of a short life:

“I am from people riding bikes in the streets
and kid’s yelling in the park
I am from do your homework now…

“I am from wash the dishes when you come home
And how was school baby?
I am from my mom’s baked chicken rice and gravy

“I am from the Davis Pizza Place down the street
I am from cookout’s at my grandma’s
I am from tack out the trash tonight
I am from smothered park chops in gravy

“I am so happy to be who I am.”

Memorial contributions may be sent to Lee’s family at 1234 Forest Road, New Haven, CT 06515, and memories may be posted to the Independent’s comments section or BeecherAndBennett.com.