Candace's legacy: `She responded to love'
Tillie Fong, News Staff Writer
Published April 20, 2001 at midnight
Family and friends remembered Candace Newmaker as a girl who brought joy to people around her, not as a troubled child.
"She responded to love," said David Davis, Candace's grandfather. He attended the memorial service for her at the Chief Hosa Lodge in Genesse Park Thursday night. "She responded to laughter."
More than two dozen people came to the service, which was led by state Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, an ordained minister. Music was provided by the Heritage Christian Center Youth Choir.
"What this is about tonight is to give us an opportunity to let you know that, as a community, we grieve with you," Stafford said to Davis and his wife, Mary Davis, who wept as Stafford spoke.
"Candace left this Earth in a way that no one of us here would have chosen to go. As she walked through the shadow of the valley of death, she had gone to the Lord, and I believe that she is dancing and singing."
Candace, 10, died last April after she was wrapped head to toe in a blue-flannel sheet and placed under pillows while four adults pushed against her during a rebirthing-therapy session.
They discovered she was unconscious when they unwrapped her. She died the next day.
Her adoptive mother, Jeanne Newmaker of Durham, N.C., had sought the treatment in Evergreen to try to bond with her daughter.
Two therapists, two assistants and Jeanne Newmaker have been charged in Candace's death. The therapists currently are on trial in Jefferson County.
Stafford and Sen. Mark Hillman, R-Burlington, sponsored House Bill 1238, which Gov. Bill Owens signed into law Thursday. It makes it illegal to practice rebirthing therapy if restraints are involved or if there is a risk of physical danger.
On Thursday, Mary Davis urged the people who were gathered at the service to forget how Candace has been depicted during the trial -- as a girl who hurt animals and other children. The program for the service referred to Candace as "Candace Tiara Elmore," the name she was given by her birth mother, Mary Davis' daughter.
"She loved her mother and her mother loved her," Mary Davis said.
"She was ours," said Davis tearfully. "She was never Jeane
Newmaker's. She was ours."
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