‘A piece ofmy heart has shattered’
• The four-year-old girl who died in a tragic accident at a Christmas parade is being remembered as a child who “loved helping other people” and had a passion for learning.
MaCali Cormier died Saturday night after she fell under the wheels of a float during the annual Parade of Lights in Yarmouth, N.S.
Her obituary, posted on the H.M. Huskilson’s funeral home website, said Cormier was a pre-primary student at Yarmouth Central School and “couldn’t wait” to go to the new school that is being built across the street.
It said she also loved swimming, camping, horseback riding, dancing, and watching YouTube videos.
“MaCali will be remembered as an awesome big sister to Tessa and Matthew Cormier,” read the obituary. “Most of all, MaCali will be remembered as a little girl who loved helping other people.”
Local resident Vance Webb said when he arrived to watch the parade with his stepson and three grandsons, he and his wife noticed there were vehicles parked on both sides of Main Street — the same street used for the parade.
“They were parked all along the parade route, bumper-to-bumper,” he said in an interview. “It created hundreds of spots where kids were running in and out. It reduced the road size. Of course, kids want to see the parade, so there’s a tendency for them to poke out from behind the cars.”
Webb said he had never seen vehicles lining both sides of the street during previous parades.
An Oct. 4 entry form on the Facebook page for the Parade of Lights noted that parking would be allowed on Main Street.
Since Saturday, dozens of friends have sent messages of condolences to the two young parents.
In a long Facebook post, a family friend described it as a “heart wrench of a time” and recalled when he first met the girl.
“Even people who never ever met her, or the family, is grieving … a piece of my heart has shattered and will never be able to be fixed.” Other posts express shock. “This world is so unfair I cannot believe it,” wrote one woman, who had changed her profile picture to a photo of Cormier. “I’m so so sorry … she was a beautiful little girl!”
Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood said more than 40 people showed up at a downtown hotel on Sunday to receive grief counselling.
“There were a lot of tears,” Mood said Monday. “It was raw, emotional. I’ve never experienced anything like that. People were just very open, and it was a safe place to be.”
A spokesperson at Huskilson’s said they have chosen to absorb the funeral costs. Instead, donations can be made through the funeral home to a trust fund for Cormier’s younger siblings.