Article: FAMILY, FRIENDS MOURN MELISSA BENOIT AT HER FUNERAL

KINGSTON - In a stark white church tinged with pink, the family, friends and neighbors of 13-year-old Melissa Benoit were reminded yesterday that her joyful life, not her horrible death, should be their touchstone.

"Is the human being a totally evil thing or something good?" asked Rev. Walter R. Braman, minister of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, just down Main Street from the house where Melissa lived.

"The question I have to ask is, 'Do we measure the human condition by the wanton, foul acts of someone who lost touch with the brothers and sisters of his community, or do we measure the human condition by the laughter, the grace and the love that is Melissa ...

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