ROANOKE — The memories and goodwill of a community turned what could have been considered a funeral into a celebration of the life for recently deceased Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington.
Standing at the front of Roanoke’s St. Andrews Catholic Church, Gil Harrington spoke on the wild ride she and her husband faced in the search for their missing daughter Morgan, which took them from “Dr. Phil to Capitol Hill, and everywhere in between.”
“We went to a heavy metal concert," Harrington said, “you got your papa on Facebook and me writing a blog. Who would have ever imagined such a thing?”
Gil Harrington said she and her son, Alex, were looking into getting a tattoo to commemorate Morgan.
“We did check it out, but so far we’re still testing the concept out with sharpie. It’s coming.” Harrington said, holding up her left wrist, dotted with the family’s “2-4-1” logo, standing for “I love you too much, forever, once more.”
The Mass service brought out several hundred to the church from locations as far as West Virginia and Ohio, despite the dangerous road conditions and icy weather that Morgan’s father Dan Harrington would call “frozen tears from the heavens.” Harrington said it was “not the day we would’ve liked.”
“I kind of thought I’d be coming to celebrate Morgan’s graduation, or perhaps her marriage, or perhaps the baptism of her children,” Dan Harrington said. “But no, we’re here to celebrate the end of her life.”
A “real celebration of her life”
Following the Friday afternoon Mass came a reception at the nearby Hotel Roanoke. Despite the circumstances, the reception had a cheery atmosphere.
A mix of upbeat pop and country music set the tone for the evening, with two projectors beaming into the corner of the room a montage of family photos and home video of Morgan. Attendees were greeted to the reception with a downpour of bubbles from a machine hanging over the entrance. Gil Harrington, who celebrated her birthday Feb. 1, said the reception’s tone was intentional.
“It’s important to end Morgan’s life with a smile, seeing that she brought smiles to so many people,” Harrington said. “We wanted a real celebration of her life and a going away party.”
The reception hall was stocked throughout with artifacts from Morgan’s life. A table on the side of the room displaying some of her favorite belongings touched on the many aspects of her life. A red dress she wore for prom. A pile containing at least 100 CDs. An essay assignment that she completed about a family vacation when she was 10 years old, for which she received an A-minus. Several small pieces of jewelry, including a watch based on the cartoon character “Hello Kitty.”
A black trunk situated to the left of the table was decked with several bumper stickers, with a pair of red Converse sneakers hand-marked with small flames placed on top.
Behind the table was a clothesline featuring T-shirts from her high school volleyball team, Virginia Tech and a black shirt made for the Metallica concert she attended in Charlottesville the night she went missing. Gil Harrington said while she had some ideas for what to put on display, she eventually had a family friend make the final decisions.
“Everything (at home) speaks of Morgan,” Harrington said.
The room featured several pieces of artwork Morgan had completed in her lifetime, including a self-portrait on the outside of the room and a plate she had painted for her mother.
“She was a very talented artist,” Dan Harrington said.
One set of friends, who had with Morgan gone by the unofficial nickname “The Nine,” came out in full force. Two of the friends, Maggie Herrick and Jordan Fitzgerald, sported new tattoos in memory of their lost friend, which they got Wednesday in Norfolk.
“I’ve lost friends before,” said Fitzgerald, a junior psychology and criminal justice major at Old Dominion University. “Losing a friend like this is different.”
Fitzgerald sported the digits “241” on her right wrist, and said she was in the process of getting a second tattoo to commemorate her friend, which could come in the form of a replica of Harrington’s artwork.
Herrick, who had been friends with Harrington since she was six years old, remembered her friend unique personality on display when the two played on a soccer team together.
“She ran up and down the field making rocket ship and laser sounds,” Herrick said. “Everybody was laughing so hard they almost couldn’t play.” Herrick’s wrists featured “241” and “MDH” in a large swirling black font.
“Everybody who knows Morgan has a story to tell,” Herrick said. “Knowing Morgan ... we can’t not be upbeat.”
Others came to the reception to share in the Harrington family’s grief. Connie Miller, a family friend who lives in an adjacent neighborhood to the Harrington family, said she knew the family through her two children, who graduated from high school at the same time as Morgan and her older brother Alex. Miller, whose oldest son, Kevin, committed suicide in April 2007, said she had met with the family earlier in the week.
“Losing people you love does not discriminate,” Miller said. “No matter what the circumstance, losing a child pains the same.”
Stephen McNally, who led the day’s Mass service, said faith was critical in moving past tragedy.
“For people of faith, life is changed not ended,” McNally said. “There’s something beyond life. McNally, who came up from Transfiguration Catholic Church of Fincastle, Va. for the service said Morgan’s memory would touch others.
“Morgan in her own way lived very authentically,” McNally said, noting her community service efforts with the youth and the mentally disabled. “She had the grace to do things that were very mature for her age.”
Dan remembered that Morgan had not enjoyed her first year while at Tech, saying she was frequently homesick.
“I knew the Smart Bus schedule pretty well,” Harrington joked, referring to the shuttle that drives from Blacksburg to Roanoke. However, Harrington said his daughter’s enjoyment of school increased over time, especially after moving off-campus, where she shared an apartment in the Foxridge community.
“She started to like Tech a lot more.” he said. Dan Harrington said he was impressed with his daughter’s rising maturity.
“She grew a lot to the point we had an adult relationship,” Harrington said.
With Morgan Harrington receiving what Gil called a “proper burial,” many questions remain on how Morgan died.
The remains of 20-year-old Harrington, a junior education major, were found Jan. 26 by a farmer at Anchorage Farm property, approximately 10 miles from Charlottesville’s Copeley Road Bridge, where she was last seen alive. Virginia State Police confirmed Wednesday that Morgan’s death was a homicide. There has been no determination on a cause or time of Harrington’s death.
Dan Harrington said he checked internet blogs along with a Facebook memorial page made for his daughter for updates on Morgan’s case frequently. Harrington said his daughter’s death had left him “numb.”
“How could somebody murder this?” Harrington said, pointing to the large projector screen displaying a picture of Morgan. “She was a good daughter, and we loved her.”
Gil Harrington said her main goal was to find her daughter, and less to seek revenge.
“He’ll receive his punishment,” Harrington said of her daughter’s unknown assailant. “I’m confident they will find him.”
Dan Harrington also spoke highly of the newly formed scholarship in his daughter’s name for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, along with charity drive for Orphan Medical Network International, for which Gil Harrington, a nurse, had been to Zambia several times to assist with the group’s medical efforts.
OMNI recently announced it would rename a portion of the George Compound near Ndola, Zambia the “Morgan Harrington Educational Wing.”
For the time being, those who knew Morgan will find solace in her memory.
“She was so unique, words fall short of describing her,” said friend Maggie Herrick.