Funeral held for Melody Ross, teenager shot after high school football game

Sary Choeun, left, aunt of Melody Ross, sits with the girl's parents, Chantha and Vanareth Ross, right, at the funeral service. People across the country have expressed their sympathy and sorrow on a memorial Web page. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times / November 14, 2009)

Friends, family and dignitaries pay tribute to the Long Beach girl.

November 15, 2009
Los Angeles Times

Melody Ross, the Wilson High School honors student whose shooting death after a Long Beach football game touched off an outpouring of sympathy from around the country, was buried Saturday in Whittier.

A hushed throng of family members, friends and dignitaries gathered at SkyRose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, where her first name was spelled out in a collage of photographs taken over the 16 years of her life.

A slide show was screened above her open wooden casket, set amid wreaths of flowers. Nearby, a Wilson football helmet, a Gatorade bottle and a football sat on marble stands, each bearing signatures of those who knew her.

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