Death is a thief. It takes and keeps all that a person is, the person was. And when death takes from us someone as extraordinary as Amanda, it takes with it not just her past, but who she was to us every day. Amanda was special but she never had it easy. A childhood torn from her. A rough adolescence, and a damning identity that was thrust upon her which she bore with dignity until she made herself a new name, Amanda Porter. A name that was her own. Free from the binds of history, looking forward with a man who loved her for all of her strengths and all of her weaknesses. Amanda, all of us here today have embraced you, and we love you. We will protect the husband and child that you leave behind, the sister that you were just getting to know, and we will greet every new day as a gift, approaching it with the same bravery and determination with which you lived your entire life.

Emily