SOUTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - Several people said their final goodbye to 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez during her funeral Mass, Monday.
Fernandez was a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy.
“To know you has been our greatest blessing. All I can say is I love you, I love you, I love, and we will all love you forever,” said one of Fernandez’s friends. “Anyone who met Lucy, even just for a moment was immediately touched by the light within her.”
Hundreds gathered at her Mass, where several of Fernandez’s friends and classmates spoke some words of remembrance and to say their final goodbyes.
“She was loving, joyful and had such a great sense of humor. She was perfect,” said a friend.
“Lucy, I will always love you, thank you for changing my life, and making me and many others so happy,” said a friend.
Some of the people who knew her the best shared special memories of her.
“We at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy also loved Lucy,” said Sister Carmen Fernandez, president of the school. “Our school is a better place because of her.”
Her life was taken over the Labor Day weekend in a boating accident near Key Largo
There were 14 people on board, two adults and 12 teenagers. The teens were all students from Our Lady of Lourdes and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart.
Several of them were injured, but Fernandez would not survive.
“Lulu, while your time on earth was short, your impact will be felt by generations,” said Arturo Fernandez, Lucy’s uncle. “Please watch over all of us and keep us close, and if possible, save us some spots in heaven with you because heaven is where angels belong, and you, my love, are definitely an angel.”
During the Mass, there were reports of people fainting.
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, eight young people needed help. Some of them were treated at the church while others were transported to the hospital.
As her friends and classmates spent the last week remembering Fernandez’s life, the Fernandez family asked for privacy and released a statement.
In her honor, her family established a scholarship fund at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy called “The Lucy Fernandez Foundation,” which has already raised more than $500,000.
The goal is to continue Fernandez’s legacy of kindness and love.
It you would like to donate, click here.
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