TEARS FOR GABBY
LI memorial service
Gabby Petito was remembered for her zest for life at an emotional service on Long Island Sunday — with her father hinting at his daughter’s tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend-turnedfugitive Brian Laundrie.
The Blue Point native, 22, was eulogized at Moloney’s Funeral Home in Holbrook, where more than 1,000 people paid their respects exactly one week after her body was found at a Wyoming campsite.
“The entire planet knows this woman’s name,” her father, Joe Petito, told the packed crowd. “And she’s inspired a lot of women and a lot of men to do what’s best for them first. Put yourself first. And do it now while you have time.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” he added. “If there’s a relationship that might not be the best for you, leave it now.”
The heartbroken dad also told mourners not to feel sad over her untimely death because “Gabby didn’t live that way.”
“That wasn’t her way,” he said. “As a matter of fact, if you knew Gabby, she was always a pretty happy girl.”
He spoke of her blue eyes — “those ridiculous blue eyes” — that kept her from getting in trouble at home as a kid.
“Gabby is the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” Joe Petito added.
He and Gabby’s stepfather, James Schmidt, who also spoke during the service, shared a tearful embrace.
“I spent a good portion of my life working and trying to earn money to provide for our family and our kids, to give them the best life,” Schmidt told the crowd. “And Gabby, at 22 years old, helped teach me that you can always make money, but you can’t make up for lost time.
“She is an example for all of us to live by,” he said. “To enjoy every moment in this beautiful world as she did.”
He spoke of Petito’s “Let It Be” tattoo — a reference to the classic Beatles tune.
“It’s OK to mourn for Gabby,” he said. “It’s OK to feel sorrow and pain. But we want to celebrate her and how she lived her life. We want to hold on to all those wonderful memories we shared with her, because that will be the answer. Let it be.”
More than 1,000 mourners lined up before the funeral service, which was also streamed online, began at noon. An entire wall at the funeral home was lined with photos of the young woman, and members of the public stopped to pray in front of a gold urn engraved with flowers.
Among those paying their respects were about 100 firefighters to support Schmidt, who is a firefighter.
“We do funerals, unfortunately, and we’re good at it,” the stepfather said. “I’ve done it throughout my career. I’ve written eulogies, I’ve planned these funerals. And not one of them could ever prepare me for this moment.
“Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children,” he added. “This is not how life is supposed to work.”
Funeral-home director Connor Moloney said Petito’s body was still at the coroner’s office in Wyoming and that she had not been cremated.
Petito’s death was ruled a homicide a week ago, though authorities have not yet released the cause.
Petito was reported missing on Sept. 11, following a road trip out West with Laundrie, 23, that at times turned heated, according to cops and witnesses.
Laundrie, who has since gone missing himself, was indicted last week on federal fraud charges for allegedly illegally using someone else’s debit card in the days after Petito vanished. He is now the subject of a nationwide search focused at the vast Carlton Reserve near his home in Florida, where he is last believed to have been.
The service on Sunday followed a candle-lighting vigil in Petito’s hometown of Blue Point and the release of butterflies in North Port, Fla., where she lived with Laundrie and his parents.