12-19-2010, 09:12 AM
Roanoke.com
The Rev. John Eure doesn't want people to remember Tina Smith for how she died.
"Even though this is part of a story in Tina's life, it is not the whole story of Tina's life," Eure said. "The murder should not define who she was."
The pastor urged about 175 of Smith's family and friends, gathered at Ash Avenue Baptist Church in South Boston on Saturday for Smith's memorial service, to remember the 41-year-old nurse for her quirky ways, her kindness and her service to others.
Smith was found slain at her Roanoke County home Dec. 6. Her boyfriend, Jeffrey Easley, 32, is suspected in her death. He's charged with abducting Smith's 12-year-old daughter, Brittany Smith, and taking her to San Francisco.
Brittany, returned to her family Monday, sat through the service with her father Benjamin Smith and other relatives at her side. Dressed in black, she kept her dark hair curtained around her face and at times wiped away tears.
With what will be a difficult Christmas for Tina Smith's family just a week away, Eure said she was a gift to those who knew her.
"God gave her to us as a gift," he said during the hourlong service. "It was a gift that had a heart of compassion, that had a heart for family."
Smith believed in serving others through the military, as a nurse and a mother, Eure said.
"Perhaps God used something with that to help bring about a miracle that we saw Friday a week ago, when Brittany was found," Eure said. "Perhaps some of those things that [Brittany] learned may have helped her to survive that past week that she was away. I think if Tina knew that, she would be well pleased."
Eure told the grieving friends and family to turn to their relationship with God for healing, and to forgive.
"Forgiveness does not mean forget. I don't know where we get that," Eure said. "But it means we let go. I think forgiveness is a gift from God to help us to let go of the things that hold us down."
Smith's cremated remains were placed in a wooden urn on a table at the front of the church.
A folded American flag, roses and candles surrounded the urn. An array of flowers placed on the altar were set against Christmas wreaths, red poinsettias and angels with trumpets.
Photos of Smith as a baby, a girl with pigtails, and then as a teen and an adult wearing a white nurse's dress, flashed in front of the church from a projector.
One photo showed Smith skydiving in honor of her late son, who accidentally died last year of self-asphyxiation.
Church bells rang out as the processional left the church for burial service at Halifax Memorial Gardens.
South Boston firetrucks and police cars stopped traffic at intersections along the way. Several officers who work with Brittany's father stood outside the stopped cruisers with their hats held over their hearts.
The Rev. John Eure doesn't want people to remember Tina Smith for how she died.
"Even though this is part of a story in Tina's life, it is not the whole story of Tina's life," Eure said. "The murder should not define who she was."
The pastor urged about 175 of Smith's family and friends, gathered at Ash Avenue Baptist Church in South Boston on Saturday for Smith's memorial service, to remember the 41-year-old nurse for her quirky ways, her kindness and her service to others.
Smith was found slain at her Roanoke County home Dec. 6. Her boyfriend, Jeffrey Easley, 32, is suspected in her death. He's charged with abducting Smith's 12-year-old daughter, Brittany Smith, and taking her to San Francisco.
Brittany, returned to her family Monday, sat through the service with her father Benjamin Smith and other relatives at her side. Dressed in black, she kept her dark hair curtained around her face and at times wiped away tears.
With what will be a difficult Christmas for Tina Smith's family just a week away, Eure said she was a gift to those who knew her.
"God gave her to us as a gift," he said during the hourlong service. "It was a gift that had a heart of compassion, that had a heart for family."
Smith believed in serving others through the military, as a nurse and a mother, Eure said.
"Perhaps God used something with that to help bring about a miracle that we saw Friday a week ago, when Brittany was found," Eure said. "Perhaps some of those things that [Brittany] learned may have helped her to survive that past week that she was away. I think if Tina knew that, she would be well pleased."
Eure told the grieving friends and family to turn to their relationship with God for healing, and to forgive.
"Forgiveness does not mean forget. I don't know where we get that," Eure said. "But it means we let go. I think forgiveness is a gift from God to help us to let go of the things that hold us down."
Smith's cremated remains were placed in a wooden urn on a table at the front of the church.
A folded American flag, roses and candles surrounded the urn. An array of flowers placed on the altar were set against Christmas wreaths, red poinsettias and angels with trumpets.
Photos of Smith as a baby, a girl with pigtails, and then as a teen and an adult wearing a white nurse's dress, flashed in front of the church from a projector.
One photo showed Smith skydiving in honor of her late son, who accidentally died last year of self-asphyxiation.
Church bells rang out as the processional left the church for burial service at Halifax Memorial Gardens.
South Boston firetrucks and police cars stopped traffic at intersections along the way. Several officers who work with Brittany's father stood outside the stopped cruisers with their hats held over their hearts.