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Ashley's
funeral was held on Tuesday, November 27, 2001, at 2:00 PM at the Waxahachie Civic
Center. We arranged for use of the Civic Center because we wanted to be sure to
have enough room for the anticipated crowd.
Waxahachie Civic Center
There
were almost 2,000 people in attendance at Ashley's funeral. What an incredible
tribute to the impact this one little girl had on so many people's lives! A
very special "thank you" to Ron Ansell for helping with many of the
arrangements for the funeral. We could not have done it without him! And
another very special "thank you" to the entire staff of the Civic Center,
who went out of their way to make sure everything was "just right" for
the funeral. NOTE: In order to listen
to songs, you will need the free RealPlayer.
Prelude
Music (played as people arrived) - "Ashokan
Farewell" (listen with RealPlayer)
by Jay Ungar from Waltz of the Wind by Fiddle
Fever, produced by Jay Ungar and Fiddle Fever ©
1984 Flying Fish Records, Inc. from the CD "Original Soundtrack Recording:
The Civil War" ©
1990 Elektra Entertainment
- "Claudia's
Theme" (listen
with RealPlayer)
by Clint Eastwood
Warner Bros. Music Corp. / ASCAP (featured in the movie "Unforgiven")
from the CD "Western Movie Themes" ©
1993 Delta Music Inc.
- "On
My Way Home"
from the CD "Enya: The Memory
of Trees" - "It's
So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday"
from the
CD "Boyz II Men: Cooleyhighharmony" - "Say
Goodnight"
from the CD "Beth Nielsen-Chapman:
Sand and Water" Seating
of Pallbearers and Family Song: "He Knows"
(listen with RealPlayer)
by J. T. Liles performed by Jerome Williams and Free Indeed
from the CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Five" © 1996 gentle Angel
publishing Company http://www.freeindeed.org
Pallbearers
(all in FFA Dress Uniform): Louie
Cravens, President, Waxahachie FFA Tres Lowry, 1st Vice President, Waxahachie
FFA Wil Oliver, 2nd Vice President, Waxahachie FFA Dustin Junkin, 2nd
Vice President, Waxahachie FFA Duff Morrow, 2nd Vice President, Waxahachie
FFA Justin Praslicka, 2nd Vice President, Waxahachie FFA Dustin Patman
Chris Morgan Obituary
and Comments Dean
Kilmer, Minister College Street Church of Christ Waxahachie, Texas
Song: "Peace"
(listen with RealPlayer) by
Julie Jouvenaux performed by Jerome Williams and Free Indeed from the
CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Five" © 1996 gentle Angel publishing
Company http://www.freeindeed.org
A
Tribute To Ashley Richard
Gookin Long-time family friend Song:
"Hide Me Away, O Lord" (listen
with RealPlayer) by Keith Lancaster from the
CD "In God We Trust" (Acappella Praise & Worship) © 1995
Anthony K. Music The
Acappella Company Online Store Message
and Comments Walter
Buchanan, Retired Minister College Street Church of Christ Waxahachie,
Texas Celebrating
the Life of Ashley A
slide show with pictures from Ashley's life, arranged by Paul O'Rear and set to
music. Click
here to see the pictures from the slide show. Music
used in slide show: - "Ashley
Jean" (listen with RealPlayer)
by Paul O'Rear © 1987 Bird and Sally Music
This is a song that I made up and would sing to
Ashley when she was a baby and I would sit and rock her. A couple of weeks before
Ashley died, we were all lying on our bed and Susan asked me to sing it to Ashley
again, so I did. Shortly after Ashley died, Susan told me that she wanted the
song played at Ashley's funeral, so I recorded it and played it at the beginning
of the slide show. I also found a recording of Ashley saying "Hello, this
is Ashley" from a telephone answering machine tape that we recorded when
Ashley was just a toddler; and a recording of her giggling when she was a baby,
so I dubbed those two "sound bites" into the beginning and end of the
song. - "Beauty
and the Beast"
Performed
by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson from the CD "Walt Disney Presents Beauty
and the Beast, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
This
is a very special song for a couple of reasons. I had a MIDI version of this song
on the "Ashley's Story" web page at cancerkids.org for several years
-- Ashley was "Beauty" and the cancer monster was "The Beast".
On our family "dream trip" to New York City just a few weeks before
Ashley died (furnished by a wonderfully generous benefactor), we went to see the
Broadway play "Beauty and the Beast". It was magnificent! Ashley had
already seen the play on a previous trip to New York with a school group, but
she loved it so much that she wanted to see it again. The song brings back cherished
memories of that wonderfully fun time spent together as a family shortly before
her death.
- "Precious
Child" (listen with RealPlayer)
Written and performed by Karen Taylor-Good Courtesy of The
Compassionate Friends (Order a tape or CD of this beautiful song here)
This is an incredibly powerful song that I came
across a few years ago while researching web sites for cancerkids.org. "The
Compassionate Friends" is a nationwide network of support groups for grieving
parents, and this has sort of become their theme song. The words to this song
are beautiful, as is the music. Have a tissue handy, or perhaps a whole box, before
you start to listen. Viewing
The following songs were played
as people passed by the casket to pay their final respects.
- "God
Bless You, Go With God" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by His Image Singers
from the CD "The Best of His Image Singers: Volume III"
http://www.hisimagesingers.com
This
was one of Ashley's all-time favorite "church" songs. It had become
the "signature" song for our summer camp session at Iron Springs Christian
Camp, which Ashley had attended for several years. Any time our church youth group
was together and singing songs, Ashley would always request that we sing this
song. - "He
is Wonderful" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by "Best Friends"
from Lubbock Christian University This
is an awesome song that our youth group learned during Ashley's final summer camp
session at Iron Springs in July 2001. - "The
Greatest Commands" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by Jerome Williams
and Free Indeed from the CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Eight"
© 1999 gentle Angel publishing Company http://www.freeindeed.org
- "You
Are My All in All" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by Jerome Williams
and Free Indeed from the CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Seven"
© 1996 gentle Angel publishing Company http://www.freeindeed.org
- "Create
in Me a Clean Heart" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by Jerome Williams
and Free Indeed from the CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Seven"
© 1996 gentle Angel publishing Company http://www.freeindeed.org
- "Day
By Day" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by Jerome Williams
and Free Indeed from the CD "Sing A New Song: Volume Four" ©
1996 gentle Angel publishing Company http://www.freeindeed.org
- "When
the Night is Falling" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Words and Music by Dennis
L. Jernigan Arranged by Ken Young © 1991 Shepherd's Heart Music
from the CD "Sacrifice: The Singer's Worship Series - 7" Distributed
by Howard Publishing Company
- "Whispering
Hope" (listen
with RealPlayer)
Performed by His Image Singers
from the CD "The Best of His Image Singers: Volume III" http://www.hisimagesingers.com
Display
Items On
display at Ashley's funeral were several special items:
- A framed, poster-sized copy of
the famous "Purple Sunglasses"
picture of Ashley. This picture was taken just a few months before Ashley's
original cancer diagnosis. It has always been one of my favorite pictures of her.
It is "famous" because it is the picture that I first posted on her
cancer story web page, and people all over the world have seen it.
- A poster-sized copy of Ashley's
Professional Headshot picture, which was
taken in October 1999 when she was considering pursuing a career in acting. This
is probably my all-time favorite picture of her, and captures her spirit and personality
remarkably.
- Ashley's
brand new FFA (Future Farmers of America) jacket. This jacket had been rush-ordered
and personally delivered to Ashley by three of the FFA officers, just a few weeks
before her death. 4H and FFA were a huge part of Ashley's life the last four years,
so this jacket is very significant, and she was very proud of it. (The three young
men who delivered the jacket to Ashley also served as pallbearers at the funeral.)
- A football jersey with Ashley's
name printed on the back of it, and the number "1" on the front and
back. Ashley and Justin both received jerseys from the Waxahachie High School
Quarterback Club just before the last big regular-season game with Waxahachie's
long-time rival Ennis High School. Our family was allowed to watch the game from
the sidelines, and one-half of the proceeds from program sales for that game were
given to our family to help with expenses related to Ashley's care. (The other
half of the money was given to the family of a young man from Ennis who had been
seriously injured in a football game the previous year.)
- An over-the-shoulder "Miss
American Junior Teen: State Finalist" pageant banner that Ashley wore when
she participated in the American Coed Pageant in Houston, July 2001. Her cousin
Josh escorted her on stage for the pageant, where she won the "Spirit Award:
Promoting Friendship and Sportsmanship". Ashley was the only contestant to
receive a standing ovation when presented with her award.
- A green-and-white-striped
Waxahachie Indians basketball, autographed by all of Waxahachie High School's
Varsity Basketball players, both boys and girls. This ball was presented to Ashley
shortly before her death.
- A
football autographed by the entire Waxahachie High School football team and coaching
staff, also presented to Ashley shortly before her death.
- A baseball autographed by
the entire Texas A&M University baseball team, also presented to Ashley shortly
before her death.
- Ashley's
2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games Olympic Torch. Ashley had been selected
to be a torchbearer for the Olympic Torch Relay for the 2002 games, to help carry
the torch as it came through the Dallas area. Less than a week before Ashley's
death, she received a visit from Nikki Stone, 1998 Olympic Gold Medalist Freestyle
Aerial Skier, who presented Ashley with her very own Olympic Torch to carry in
the relay and then keep as a souvenir. Ashley's younger brother Justin was chosen
by the Olympic Committee to carry the torch in Ashley's place on December 12,
2001.
- A
scrapbook prepared by Justin, showing pictures of Ashley. Each picture had a handwritten
caption. Under one of the pictures of Ashley, Justin wrote the words, "My
Hero". He spent several hours carefully constructing each page of the book,
then left several blank pages for people to sign. It was a beautiful tribute from
a 12-year-old precious boy to his beloved sister.
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