PRESQUE ISLE – It seemed the whole world came to say goodbye to Erin Elizabeth Sperrey during her Friday afternoon funeral service.

Scores of relatives and friends packed the Church Street funeral home, and long before the service began, ushers whispered to the streams of people that kept coming through the door that there was only standing room left.

The crowds of people gathered to remember Sperrey, a spunky 20-year-old from Presque Isle, who died Jan. 2, the victim of a brutal murder.

Sperrey was beaten to death allegedly by a co-worker while she was working the Sunday night shift at a Tim Hortons restaurant in Caribou.

The tragic way she died, however, was hardly mentioned during the half-hour service. Instead, family members focused on how much they were going to miss their “angel.”

Sperrey lay in an open white coffin lined with pink fabric and surrounded by dozens of floral arrangements as family members bade farewell.

“I promise I’ll never forget. We’ll never forget,” Brooke Sperrey said while reading a letter she wrote for her half-sister. She referred to Sperrey as “an angel” so sweet that no one could ever forget her.

An officiant read the thoughts of several others who fondly remembered the petite young woman with a wide smile and eyes that reflected innocence and vulnerability. One person called her a firecracker with a quick temper, but an even quicker sense of forgiveness. The analogy drew hushed chuckles from the crowd.

Sperrey’s mother, Johna Lovely, spoke quietly and tried hard not to cry as she read a poem for her daughter. Keith Wilcox tried to do the same as he read a poem that Sperrey had written for him at Christmas about finding the love of her life, though he broke down part way through the reading. Ashen-faced, he finished the poem and took his seat as a relative offered a comforting hand.

Many people in the main parlor cried silently. One woman shook with sobs as someone played the piano and sang “Amazing Grace.” Two little boys quietly blew their noses and wiped away their tears as the service drew to a close.

A gospel song about going home to heaven played in the background as Sperrey’s grandmother and then her mother approached the casket and gave Erin a gentle kiss on the forehead. Lines of people followed, offering condolences and hugs to Sperrey’s many family members.

It took an hour and a half for the reception line to end. Afterward the family was visibly drained. They still had a private luncheon to attend before they could be together into the night to offer comfort to one another and share their favorite stories about Sperrey.

“At least now she’s at peace,” Amanda McKnight, Sperrey’s sister, said as she watched her mother decide what to do with all the flowers. “She’s finally at peace.”

As family members sat dazed in the funeral parlor, Keith Wilcox walked up to the coffin, crying, and leaned over to give Sperrey a kiss. Taylor Sperrey, Erin’s 17-year-old brother, joined Wilcox, bringing with him a long-stemmed white rose. Together, the two laid it in Sperrey’s arms. With their hands on each other’s shoulders, they bowed their heads and seemed to say goodbye.