Friends, relatives, ministers and military servicemen and women paid tribute on Saturday to Lance Cpl. Casey Lynne Casanova in a funeral service filled with music and memories of the fallen Marine.
Casanova left Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., for Iraq on Valentine’s Day. Less than three months later, the 22-year-old was dead, killed in a roadside bombing on May 2, along with three fellow Marines.
Tears flowed at the two-hour service at New Heights Baptist Church in Summit, where several hundred mourners gathered. But Casanova’s mother, Paula Carruth of McComb, urged those at her daughter’s graveside later in the afternoon to remember the military units still stationed in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.
“My daughter would have wanted us to smile today,” Carruth said to the crowd at the Adams United Methodist Church Cemetery. “We need to support our troops; they’re still there. There’s nothing else we can do for Casey.”
Those who spoke at Casanova’s service told of her love of family, of God and her country.
“We’re here to pay tribute to one of our very own. She is our heroine,” said New Heights pastor, the Rev. Rick Kennedy. … “She packed more in 22 years than many of us in our 60s and 70s. We’re better people for having known her. … Casey paid the ultimate price for our land, our nation, so that you and I may sit here in freedom.”
The service also included words from pastors Chris Jones and Paul Clark, who relayed messages from Casanova’s mother and her grandparents, John and Kitty Carruth, who recalled that their granddaughter loved to sing and was always happy.
“She never stayed angry more than a minute,” Clark said. “She was always the first to request prayer for others.”
Clark read a message from Casanova’s mother, who said, “There’s an empty space in my heart that will be there forever.”
Also part of the service was a proclamation in Casanova’s honor signed by Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and Sen. Kelvin Butler of Magnolia; a presentation by the Blue Star Mothers Association, and another by the Marine Corps League.
As they did on Thursday, when Casanova’s body arrived by plane at the McComb-Pike County Airport, flag-bearing locals showed their support and respect on Saturday by lining the roadside along Highway 98 during the funeral procession. Leading the way were dozens of Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycle.
