Memorial service set for slain teen

Five Abington women, reacting to the gruesome details surrounding the killing of Grace Packer, have banded together to honor the girl’s memory.

Plans to set up a memorial service, create a scholarship fund in the 14-year-old girl’s name and plant a memorial garden were set in motion after the 14-yearold’s dismembered body was discovered Oct. 31 in Luzerne County more than three months after she was reported missing.

Since then, Grace’s adoptive mother, Sara Packer, and her boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan, have been arrested on charges related to the horrific sexual assault and slaying of the girl. Both are being held without bail in Bucks County Correctional Facility.

The memorial service for Grace, who previously lived in the 800 block of Tennis Avenue in Abington, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at the New Life Presbyterian Church, 467 N. Easton Road, Glenside. Pastor Marc Davis will officiate at the service, which is open to the public and will feature music, inspirational readings and a candlelight tribute to Grace.

Andrea Adams, who set up an Abington Loves Grace Memorial Fund GoFundMe page (gofundme.com/3595tew), said in an email that she and the other four women — Nadine Barnett, Jackie Horst-Forbes, Jen Meixsell and Jackie Schwanbeck — are mothers whose children attend the same school Grace did. One of the four did know her, she said, as the woman’s son and Grace were best friends.

On the GoFundMe page, Adams notes she created it “as a way to give Grace a proper homegoing service. Everyone who knew Grace says she was a sweet and kind young woman who had a heart for those with special needs.”

“When I heard about her disappearance, I immediately thought that if it was my child missing, I would hope that my community would help me locate him,” Adams, whose 14-yearold son and Grace attended the same school, said in the Jan. 10 email. “Once the news broke that she was gone, I was devastated. It appeared that there was no one around to honor her. All of the headlines were about the gruesome details … no one was speaking about Grace.

“It was then that I knew that I couldn’t let that be the end of her story,” she said.

After others reacted favorably to the idea of a memorial service, the other four women joined in the effort “and it has grown from there,” Adams said.

Following the service, a community forum will be held at the North Penn VFW, 2519 Jenkintown Road, Glenside, from 3:30 to 6 p.m., Adams said. Counselors will be available “to assist the community with the grief that accompanies a tragedy like this one.” In addition, experts dealing with children in the foster care system and domestic violence victims will provide information “on how to spot the warning signs [of abuse], as

well as how to report any suspicious activity safely and anonymously,” she said.

“This will be the first of many programs like this one,” Adams said. “We want to make this an ongoing conversation within the Abington community in the hopes of preventing this from happening again.”

A $3,500 goal on the GoFundMe page was set to pay for the costs associated with the memorial service and community forum, she said. Remaining funds will be used to establish a memorial garden, scholarship fund and nonprofit that Adams and the other women have started in Grace’s honor, she said. Another event will be held in the spring to dedicate the memorial garden, she said.

As of the afternoon of Jan. 10, 186 people had contributed to the GoFundMe effort for a total of $5,028.

“She lived every day feeling ignored,” Adams said on the GoFundMe page. “Let us show the world that we will never forget Grace.”

Grace Packer