Lord was kidnapped from her South Boston home Tuesday morning and fatally stabbed a short time later.
WILBRAHAM — Funeral services for 24-year-old Wilbraham native Amy Lord, kidnapped from her South Boston home Tuesday morning and fatally stabbed a short time later, will be held early next week.
Lord’s death has shocked this tight-knit community, and dozens of family, friends and former classmates gathered on the lawn at Gazebo Park Wednesday night for a candlelight vigil to celebrate her life and to mourn her loss.
Lord, an honors student and one of the captains of the Minnechaug Regional High School cheerleading squad her senior year in 2007, was remembered as a positive, giving person who loved life.
“She was a giver,” said Kevin Burnham, whose late son, Christopher Burnham, was a classmate and close friend of Lord’s. “She was just one of those people who would light up a room, she would walk in the room and light it up in a second.”
The news of Lord’s senseless and horrific death hit hard, Burnham said. “This has devastated us,” he said. “This has absolutely devastated us. We haven’t been able to do much since we got the news.”
The Lord family’s two suggested beneficiaries for memorial contributions in honor of Amy, listed in her obituary, further illustrate the closeness of the community and the losses that it has endured in recent years.
One is for a fund set up in memory of Christopher Burnham, who died on Jan. 9, 2009 at the age of 20.
The second fund honors Mike Farrell, a leading figure in Wilbraham youth baseball and a beloved coach for more than a decade, who died unexpectedly on Aug. 31, 2008. He was 52.
Burnham, a longtime Springfield police officer, said he and his wife, Barbara, have been deeply moved by the Lord family’s decision to honor his son as they mourn their beloved daughter and sister.
“It fits the Lord family to a T. They never ask, they just give. I can’t say enough about them,” Burnham said. “They are just wonderful people and Amy got it from them.”
Burnham said Lord participated each year in a softball tournament and dinner that raised money in honor of his son, including the most recent one, held about three weeks ago.
Burnham said that he and his wife decided that this would be the last year they would hold the annual fund-raiser and that Lord was one of several who tried to convince them to do it one more time.
“They had so much fun, those kids, that they wanted to do it another year,” Burnham said.
Lord gradated from Bentley University in 2011 and was employed by Genuine Interactive as a marketing specialist.
In addition to her parents Dennis and Cynthia Lord, Lord's survivors include two sisters, Kimberly J. Lord and Carly M. Lord, of Wilbraham.
Visiting hours for Lord will be held Monday, from 3 to 7 p.m., at Sampson’s Chapel of the Acres, 21 Tinkham Road, Springfield.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, at 10 a.m., at St. Cecilia’s Church, 42 Main St., Wilbraham.
The addresses for the two funds are: Christopher James Burnham Memorial Fund, PO Box 13, Wilbraham 01095-0013, and The Friends of Mike Farrell, PO Box 963, Wilbraham 01095.
