Today, the Milford community said goodbye to 16-year-old Maren Sanchez, who was stabbed to death last Friday morning in a stairwell inside Jonathan Law High school.
The junior class president’s wake was held this afternoon at the Cody–White Funeral Home, which, for quite some time, was encircled by people waiting in line.
Beachwood Florist, which does business with the funeral home, said that as soon as they learned that Maren Sanchez’s favorite color was purple, they started stocking up.
“Everything from purple carnations to purple larkspur. I mean, it’s an endless amount of stuff that we ordered,” said Vinnie Lambiase, Owner, of Beachwood Florist.
The florist called their wholesaler and told them to send everything they had in purple.
All of the flower shops in Milford chipped in to donate the arrangements Maren’s family requested. And Beachwood also did something special for the students of Jonathan Law.
“We did a big ‘JL’ for the senior class and we basically did it at cost,” said Lambiase. “This is our hometown. This is where we grew up. This is what hometown businesses do.”
Over the last six days, since the fatal stabbing, another local business owner described Milford as a little city with a big heart.
“You not only had the flower shops donating the work to the family, but when they had the grief counselors at Jonathan Law, they had restaurants that sent food to the school constantly,” added Lambiase, who has owned Beachwood Florist with his wife, Linda, for 30 years.
One thing that will always remain special to Lambiase and his wife is that Marilyn Sanchez’s boyfriend, Jerrod Butts, ordered Maren’s wristlet for their junior prom from them.
The prom was scheduled for last Friday night. Maren was killed last Friday morning. Her mother now has the wristlet as a keepsake.