Photos: Candlelight vigil honors Claire Randall

More than 100 people gathered Sunday night to remember the tragic loss of a local woman who died too soon.

Claire Randall was just 27 years old when she was killed in an apparent murder-suicide in Hebron, Maine, on Dec. 8. Her father, former First Congregational Church Pastor Dan Randall, reportedly shot her multiple times in the family’s home before turning the gun on himself. 

Ms Randall, who was the valedictorian of Mt. Hope High School's 2008 class, is remembered as an intelligent, passionate, talented woman who "had a wicked sense of humor, a creative mind and a kind heart," according to a group of friends who issed a joint statement after her death.

Watch video of the candlelight vigil here

The Mt. Hope faculty and alumni arranged Sunday’s candlelight vigil to remember Ms. Randall and grieve together. About 100 mourners each held a candle in St. Mary’s Church on Wood Street and formed a human ring around the church. Friends and family members spoke about Claire’s life, and the group sang “Amazing Grace” and a subdued version of “This Little Light of Mine” together.

Claire’s own words rang through the church as friends read a letter Claire had written in which she writes about her mother’s death. Greta Randall died in 1993, reportedly falling from at a park in Maine while she was six months pregnant.

“At three, I was forced to face the unfair reality of life and death, a surge pushing me forward into maturing into my own ways of dealing with hardship,” Ms. Randall wrote. “At 16, when I received my 16 book from my grandmother, I began to understand the nature of which I have coped with pain and loss from the ripe age of 3. Upon discovering this hidden piece of my past self, I was comforted. It made me realize how much this loss has truly shaped who I am. 

“I am still that little girl singing with mommy, and talking about my late mother with a confident air,” the letter continues. “I am still that toddler confronted with the pain of heartache at far too early an age, angry and confused. I am a high school senior hardened by hurt of loss … experienced and naive. I am always learning. And though I have come a long way from that Sunday morning, a part of me stays there.”

After the ceremony, the group formed a procession from the church. across Wood Street, to the Town Common gazebo, where they observed a moment of silence in Ms. Randall’s memory.