I Will Remember Catherine Hubbard

by Kathy on December 18, 2012 · 18 comments

in Bereavement, Coping, Grief, Healing, Inspiration, Life, Loss, Sandy Hook

Tonight I have insomnia and was catching up on some blog reading when I read Mel’s post, which in turn drew my attention to Julya’s post about making a conscious effort to remember someone’s name, other than the shooter, who died on Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

I love this idea.

Thank you Julya and Mel.

I will remember Catherine Violet Hubbard.

Hubbard Family Photo from the ABC News website

I saw this picture of the adorable little red-headed girl (which makes me think of the Charlie Brown cartoons) on ABC News’ website yesterday and for some reason her face and sweet smile spoke to me.

Catherine was six years old and in first grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

According to ABC News:

As with so many, the ABC family has been touched directly by the tragedy in Sandy Hook.

One of the young victims, Catherine Hubbard, is the niece of an ABC News employee.

Here is a statement from the family:

“We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy.

We appreciate the overwhelming support from our community that we have received over the past 24 hours. “We also wish to express our gratitude for all of the emergency responders who responded to this tragic incident as well as the teachers and staff of Sandy Hook School. Our local police and fire departments and the other agencies who are working on this continuing investigation have been incredible.

We also want to recognize outstanding work of The Connecticut State Police who have been supporting us from the very beginning of this ordeal and continue to provide unwavering support to our family.

We have no further statement to make at this time and ask that we be afforded the opportunity to grieve with our friends and family.

We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.

Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard”

Update (Wednesday, December 19): Catherine Hubbard’s wake will be held today, followed by her funeral and burial tomorrow. Here is a link to Catherine’s obituary. According to her obituary, “she will be remembered for her passion of animals and a constant smile.”

Catherine’s family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to: Newtown Animal Center, PO Box 475, Newtown CT 06470 or click here to donate online.

Please keep Catherine’s parents, older brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in your thoughts and prayers as they lay their sweet girl to rest and have to learn to live without her in their lives in the days to come.

I continue to send my thoughts and prayers to all those mourning the loss of the children and adults from Sandy Hook who died on Friday.

Update (Thursday, December 20): I read that Catherine Hubbard’s funeral, later today, will be one of eight (for school shooting victims) to be held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, CT. I didn’t know that Catherine was Christian, let alone Catholic, when I chose to remember her. But I feel an even closer connection now to Catherine and her family as a fellow Catholic.

Sending thoughts and prayers to all those laying loved ones to rest this week in Newtown, CT and around the world.

Update (Friday, December 21): Here are some links to articles I have found about Catherine. I appreciate learning more about Catherine Violet Hubbard, as it is helping me to ensure that I will truly never forget about this precious little girl who left this world much too soon.

Catherine Hubbard: Charming girl loved animals by Kristin V. Brown, Connecticut Post (December 20, 2012)

This piece tells about her funeral yesterday.

Through a Photo, Feeling Newtown’s Pain by Lori Riley, Hartford Courant (December 20, 2012)

This one was written by a woman whose family shares Catherine’s love for animals and specifically horseback riding.

Catherine Hubbard’s love for animals and her red hair serve as reminders of a vivacious child by Christopher Dean Hopkins New Haven Register (December 20, 2012)

Another, more in depth, article about Catherine’s funeral. This line broke my heart, as a fellow mother who is also a catechist, that taught my own child (our son) last school year in my class.

“(Msgr. Weiss) held the Hubbards up as an example for the 300 mourners, noting Jenny Hubbard would continue to teach one of the church’s catechism classes despite the fact that her daughter would no longer be in it.”

Whose name will you remember?

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Amy December 18, 2012 at 6:37 am

Beautiful idea, Kathy. My heart feels so raw for the loss of all of these “babies”. Parents want the lives of their children honored and not that they lost their lives in horror at the hands of an incredibly sick individual. I have felt unable to watch or read these stories but it is important.
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2 It Is What It Is December 18, 2012 at 11:20 am

I will remember Emilie Parker whose father gave such a composed and heartfelt conference about the death of his little girl. It was raw but such a tribute to her young life.

I will also remember Jack Pinto, the first child to be buried yesterday. He idolized NY Giant’s star receiver, Victor Cruz, and was buried in a child sized jersey of his hero. That image guts me.
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3 Lori Lavender Luz December 18, 2012 at 11:53 am

Inspiring, Kathy. I will remember Catherine Violet Hubbard with you.
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4 Deborah December 18, 2012 at 6:22 pm

What a wonderful idea. I’ll remember Noah Pozner, because one of my friends’ sons has almost the same name (in fact, now I can’t remember it, but maybe Posner? Penzer?) and because he’s a twin, like me.
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5 Jules December 18, 2012 at 9:04 pm

I’m trying so hard to remember all of their names. I know I won’t be able to, ultimately. Catherine stood out to me in particular because her name “Catherine Violet” is just so lovely. I don’t know if I’ll ever separate “Catherine” from “Violet” in my mind for that reason alone.

I’ll remember Noah Posner, too. His aunt is somewhere on the outskirts of my Twitter friend circle, and he’s a twin– the thought of my girls ever having to live the rest of their lives without the other is just heartbreaking to me, and I really feel for both of Noah’s sisters.
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6 loribeth December 19, 2012 at 9:50 am

I love this idea, Kathy. I will remember Ana Marquez-Greene, who spent about half of her too-brief life in the city of Winnipeg in my home province of Manitoba, and only recently moved back to Connecticut. Her father is a jazz musician who taught at the School of Music at my alma mater, University of Manitoba. You may have seen a video clip of her singing a hymn while her older brother — who escaped the school unharmed — plays piano.

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7 Michaela December 19, 2012 at 8:00 pm

I also chose Catherine Violet Hubbard…I was drawn to her the minute I saw her face…
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8 Jjiraffe December 20, 2012 at 12:24 am

I’ve been thinking about this post for a while, and finally I am ready to answer. I choose to remember Jack Pinto. He shares a name with my son, and his passion for sports is something my family shares very much. We have a common near our town where my husband and his friends played flag football for many years, just like Jack Pinto did. The thought of his friends gathering to play flag football on the common without him guts me.
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9 Lisa December 20, 2012 at 2:25 pm

I will remember Catherine Violet Hubbard. Her beautiful face captured my heart. Her love of animals and her sweet, sweet smile is what I will focus on and I will say her name each and every day.

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10 Greg Dziomba December 20, 2012 at 4:19 pm

Ever since I saw the photo of Catherine V. Hubbard, my heart was forever taken. Actually, my sorrow extends to all those beautiful children who left this world before their time, but Catherine was special. Although my three children are older, my daughter just started a position as an eighth grade teacher at a local Catholic school in Western New York. She is so devoted to her children, which reminded me of those brave teachers lost at Sandy Hook.

Your blog touched my heart as I have been experiencing grief and sorrow over the past week. I wish I could do more for the families, but distance from the event is a barrier. I have already contributed to many sites and left endless amounts of condolences for each of the victims, but it never seems to be enough…and then there is Catherine. God’s beautiful little red-headed angel who caught my heart. Maybe it was her resemblance to a little girl I coached on my daughter’s softball team years ago, or simply the piercing beauty and innocence of her smile. The constant pain and feeling of helplessness, not being able to protect this child from danger, will be around for a long time. That is the grief and mourning only a parent can feel.

These recent events have changed my life, redirecting my efforts and intentions to becoming an even better person and Christian, moving forward to volunteering and giving back to less fortunate people what we often take for granted in our daily lives. This was my Christmas gift from Catherine and all the lost souls at Sandy Hook. Their legacy to the world. God has called upon these little angels. They are all smiling from heaven and will someday be reunited with their loving families.

I lost my Father a few years back and the pain is still present, especially around the holidays. I loved my Father deeply and yesterday, through prayer, asked Dad to walk over and say hello to Catherine.

Thanks you for making my day a little more happy through this wonderrful blog.

Greg 🙂

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11 Elsa December 22, 2012 at 12:37 pm

i love your blog. i also felt a connection to this beautiful girl. I’m a redhead and my mom said this little girl reminded her of me when I was little. My son also is a redhead . My heart goes out to the family. It’s something so unimaginable, it breaks my heart to imagine what her family is going through. I’m doing the #26acts of kindness and I wrote out little slips with everyones name. Today I took free wedding pictures for a friends sister in memory of Catherine. The little slip of paper with her name on it will remain on my camera. This beautiful little redhead will always be remembered along with the others who lost their lives.

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12 Marianne Czernin January 27, 2013 at 7:18 pm

Please read my blog about Catherine Hubbard posted on January 25, 2013
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13 LeAnn April 1, 2013 at 11:26 pm

I saw this today because of the CT gun laws in the news. Catherine Violet and I share a birthday June 8 so I put her on my calendar the first day they posted all of the names of the victims so I could honor her as I get older and she doesn’t. What a beautiful idea this website is.

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14 Greg April 2, 2013 at 8:10 am

I live close to Rochester (NY) where Catherine’s 9 year old cousin Jack has formed “Catherine’s Peace Team” to raise money for the animal sanctuary in her name. The first event is scheduled for May 24. It is hard to forget this beautiful little girl…

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15 Julia Hubbard July 3, 2013 at 8:45 pm

Your daughter, your family, and the families that have suffered so deeply from this terrible tragedy has marked me and broken me more than I can explain. My father and mother had to put a child at rest (my brother) and my struggles are with me daily. I have read your stories I have seen the pain and I hear your positive words and I hope the day will come where I can be as strong and as understanding as you and your husband. This world is a mad mad world and so many things happen that I wish I could explain. I hate it I hate that things happen daily that are so harsh so unexplainable but life goes on and I know my brother and your daughter are in Heaven, together.I miss him more than anything and my heart loves him more and more each day. I pray for you and for your family and the other families to be strong that your hearts heal as mine does as well. I would love for you to email me back, it would help me more than you know. God bless and again your always in my heart and prayers, Julia Hubbard.

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16 Marianne Czernin July 8, 2013 at 8:19 am

I continue to think about Catherine. Sometimes it’s just a clear blue sky that brings her to mind. A rainy day can do it, too. But, always, when I have an animal moment of any sort, I think of Catherine and I share the moment with her. It’s truly amazing how the spirit of a soul that I never met can be with me …. I can only imagine how much she remains with those who were privileged to know her, to love her and to share in her world. My thoughts are with them, too.

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