COLORADO SPRINGS — Barb Fisher walked with her hand on the gray metal casket as it moved toward the sanctuary of Holy Trinity Catholic Church today.
She was surrounded by 500 wounded souls who sang: “Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow your love.”
A week earlier, Barb Fisher’s only son, 18-year-old Michael Fisher, had been shot to death in a teen domestic-violence crime that shook Colorado Springs School District 11 and the community.
Teens wearing ties under their Wasson High School letter jackets and tennis shoes streamed by an open casket to say final goodbyes.
Not far from their minds was Jeremy Vasquez, 16, and Tiffany Howard, 16, who were injured by 17-year-old Andrew Brown before he turned the gun on himself. Howard recently had broken off a relationship with Brown.
A woman who did not identify herself when she spoke during today’s Mass said Fisher was raised by a dynamic mother, loving aunts and his mother’s close girlfriends. Because of the women in his life, he could never get out of hanging Christmas ornaments, making cookies or going shopping.
Before the service ended, 11 teens walked to the front of the sanctuary and laid white roses on Fisher’s casket.
In the parking lot outside, the windows of several cars were painted: “RIP Michael Fisher.”
Erin Emery: 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com
