Public Memorial Service for Lauren Witnesses Huge Gathering
Lauren Hill, a student and basketball player in Mount St. Joseph University, died last weekend after facing an 18-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor.
On Monday afternoon, final respects were given to Lauren Hill. Hundreds of people were present at the place. A public campaign was also started against childhood campaign in which $1.5 million were raised in the final last few months of Hill.
In November 2014, Mount St. Joseph received an NCAA waiver to postpone its season-opening game by two weeks so that Lauren can take part in a college basketball game. The game event took place at the Cintas Center and more than 10,000 people saw the game.
In the public memorial service, the service was started with players from Lauren's high school alma mater, Lawrenceburg (Ind.), and Mount St. Joseph. Students were holding hands and following Lauren's casket into the main arena at Cintas. The service lasted for an hour.
Students formed a tunnel and passed on her number 22 jersey through every player's hand and eventually kept atop the casket. Lawrenceburg's players as well as Mount St. Joseph's players wore their jerseys to the service.
The service was also attended by some players from Xavier's men's basketball team. Her team members said that Lauren loved playing basketball. She loved competitions and was quite athletic. She was quite strong and did not allow anyone to pity on her condition.
An MSJ religious studies professor called her 'a voice for the voiceless'. Johansen, the Channel 12 anchor, who told about Lauren's fight with incurable brain cancer, said that Lauren did not want to hide from people and wanted to be seen.