Debra S. Kelley was remembered yesterday at Farmville United Methodist Church as a dedicated Longwood University professor who was devoted to her students and acted to inspire them. Later in the day, friends and church members gathered again at the church to celebrate the life of Kelley’s 16-yearold daughter, Emma Niederbrock, describing her as a sweet and bashful girl who sang in the church’s children’s choir when she was little.

Many of the guests at the two funerals were the same. David Metzler and Heidi Childs shared common friends, and both attended Heritage Baptist Church. The musical choices were similar: Both played guitar for the worship team at Heritage. The speakers’ messages had common ground, a plea for guests to accept the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Metzler and Childs were committed Christians who had dedicated much of their lives to ministry.

Under gray skies, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was mourned yesterday in an elaborate funeral that brought together four presidents, more than half the U.S. Senate, and Hollywood stars, sports legends and foreign dignitaries. History as well as deep loss pervaded the cold, rain-lashed morning. It bore all the somber trappings of a state funeral for a departed leader whose triumphs and tragedies had touched and inspired many around the world.

Wazira Harris died too soon. Her family hopes the loss can become a community’s gain. The pregnant Highland Springs High School senior, who was shot to death April 27 trying to escape an eruption of violence in an apartment complex near her school, was buried yesterday at Oakwood Cemetery after a funeral at St. Paul’s Baptist Church.