http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9014413.htmlPublished: 2009-12-14
Remembering a 'Christmas angel'
Funeral for C.B. boy lost in woods draws about 400
By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
SYDNEY — The tiny casket holding the body of James Delorey moved through the church, covered in spruce branches placed there by some of the men and women who searched for the boy for two days before they found him in the woods clinging to life.
His dog, Chance, standing sentinel over the boy even in death, silently followed his master’s coffin past nearly 400 mourners. Chance stayed by James’s side for two nights in sub-zero temperatures, returning home about two hours before a Halifax ground search and rescue team found the boy Dec. 7. A small imprint next to James told searchers the dog had been lying beside him.
People across Canada prayed for a Christmas miracle while James was lost, the priest at Holy Redeemer Church in Whitney Pier said Monday during the boy’s funeral service.
Friends and strangers alike held one another and cried with relief when crews found the autistic seven-year-old and airlifted him to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
The prayers for James’s recovery may not have been answered, but his memory inspired countless other Christmas miracles, Rev. Errol MacDonald said.
“This is the busiest time of the year. ..... Yet in the last week, everyone stopped. And in that stopping they found the true meaning of Christmas.”
Hundreds of people participated in the search for James, and hundreds more brought food and comfort to the weary search crews. Tens of thousands of people have written notes on Facebook, reaching out to a family they may never meet, touched by a child they will never know.
“Think of the children in school all across Canada writing letters of support to (James’s) fellow students,” Father MacDonald said.
“(They were) more concerned with James’s fellow students than, perhaps, for a moment or two, about Santa Claus.
“Going out of themselves to love, that is what Christmas is all about. That is the miracle that we witnessed during this past week. A miracle that shook the world, (as) evidenced by the messages received. This is how this child has affected each and every one of us.”
Indeed, the school photo of the little boy not quite looking at the camera, with big brown eyes and an innocent half-smile, became as recognizable to many Canadians as the snapshots of their own children smiling from the refrigerator door.
A poster-sized version of that photograph stood at the front of the church, the image already splashed across the front page of so many newspapers, imprinted upon so many hearts.
That face has connected millions of people, the priest told those who grieved for James.
“People will cry out perhaps for more funding (for autism), for research, (and) people will have a deeper awareness of what autism is all about, all because of one little boy,” Father MacDonald said.
“Many times we think that one person can never change the world, (but) in the last week and in his lifetime, James has truly changed this world.”
The hundreds who gathered to say goodbye to James listened quietly to several musical pieces played in his memory. The notes of Silent Night drew involuntary sobs from many of the mourners, while others broke down moments later during the chorus of One Republic’s Come Home.
“Come home, come home,” echoed from speakers through the church, mingling with the sound of crying. “I’ve been waiting for you for so long, for so long.”
Dozens of police officers, firefighters, paramedics and ground search and rescue crews lined the pews, most in their dress uniforms. These men and women who scoured the woods for James laid so many spruce branches on the boy’s coffin that it looked green as it moved past an honour guard.
Mark Eyking, the MP for Sydney-Victoria, left the church looking sombre, with reddened eyes.
“People from Cape Breton, and people from right across Canada, they poured their hearts out,” Mr. Eyking said of the messages he’s received.
“A lot of emails are coming in from around the world on this one. It was just a powerful experience in there. We just gotta remember him.”
One of the lead Cape Breton Search and Rescue commanders struggled to speak following the service, clearing his throat as he tried to find the right words.
Paul Vienneau said he and his team found some closure Monday, hearing the priest speak about Christmas miracles and James’s life.
“I believe there was a miracle, yes,” he said hoarsely. “And then he became a Christmas angel.”
