Mourners say their final goodbye to MSU shooting victim Arielle Anderson
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Hundreds of mourners paid their respects Tuesday to Arielle Anderson, who was laid to final rest surrounded by prayer, song and love.
Pale pink, white and blue flowers adorned her silver casket, etched with her name and the year of her birth and the year of her death — 2003 and 2023. Anderson, Arie as her family called her, was 19 years old when she was killed during a mass shooting at Michigan State University last week, which also claimed the lives of two other students and injured five more, leaving them hospitalized.
As the sun beamed outside, it was an emotional goodbye at the Zion Hope Baptist Church in Detroit. Loved ones cried and embraced. Dignitaries, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and officials from Harper Woods and Anderson’s schools, from her elementary to college years, sat in the pews and some delivered remarks.
“On Monday February 13, when God said to Arie, come on let's go home, she went without a fight, understanding that her earthly assignment was complete," said Kimella Spivey, a great aunt, as she read Anderson’s obituary. "Those she left behind would never have thought she would leave so soon, but Arie received her promotion from God and went onto Glory to receive her wings. Arie gave a piece of herself to everyone she met and when she departed from her earthly home, she left a piece of herself with everyone that she left."
Anderson, of Harper Woods, an MSU sophomore, was remembered as kind and caring. She had her heart set on graduating early and becoming a surgeon.
More:Mourners gather to remember students killed in Michigan State University shooting spree
Whitmer, speaking at the funeral, said what struck her the most about Anderson was her "quiet confidence and loud compassion," because of her desire to put family first and become a doctor one day. Her future, Whitmer said, was robbed from her by a "senseless act of violence."
"The actions that we take in response to this will honor your daughter and her life will not have been in vain," Whitmer said.
Anderson received an honorary degree from Michigan State University's Board of Trustees, said board member Rema Vassar.
"Arielle is forever a Spartan and we are forever her nation," Vassar said.
The city of Harper Woods made Tuesday a day of remembrance for Anderson, Mayor Valerie Kindle said, and Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, through a representative, dedicated a resolution to her.
Anderson embraced her middle name "Diamond," said Roy Bishop Jr., deputy superintendent for educational services for Grosse Pointe Public Schools. Anderson went to Parcells Middle School and graduated from Grosse Pointe North High School in 2021. Before that, she attended kindergarten to the sixth grade in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.
During eighth grade mock elections, she was voted most likely to succeed, Bishop said. Anderson was a mentor and helped younger students acclimate from middle school to high school. She was a member of the student council and remained on the honor roll throughout grade school.
"Growing up, Arielle had tons of friends," Spivey said. "She never met a stranger and everywhere she went, everyone she met, she met you with a smile. A smile that was so infectious that it poured over into the lives of everyone that she encountered."
Anderson loved photography, roller skating and live concerts. Her favorite artist was Ariana Grande and she loved dancing to her music. She would drop what she was doing in a "heartbeat" to help someone, Spivey said, describing her as patient and loving. She was dedicated to her family, especially her aunt, Precious, who has special needs and is nonverbal.
Her social media is a tapestry of her life — smiling selfies in an MSU sweatshirt and snapshots of prom and high school graduation. She took to YouTube to document everyday and monumental snippets: getting ready for prom, sharing gift ideas for Christmas, grocery shopping, her winter morning routine and cooking tacos.
"Arielle was a fairy tale and a storybook that came true," Spivey said. "She was a beautiful gift and the closest thing to perfection that one would ever know."
Large pictures of Anderson throughout the stages of her young life — as a toddler wearing a white headband, posing in front of a Christmas tree background, at high school graduation, in her white prom gown — and large flower arrangements surrounded the foot of the stage.
“Our life is in God’s hands,“ someone sang, as somber and then rousing piano keys and drumbeats filled the air throughout the afternoon.
On Saturday, family and friends also said goodbye to Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner. Fraser, 20, of Grosse Pointe, was an athlete and president of his fraternity, and remembered as a community leader. Verner, 20, of Clawson, was a student leader, a scholar and "phenomenal human being." Later that day, hundreds gathered at First English Evangelical Lutheran Church in Grosse Pointe Woods, just blocks away from Grosse Pointe North High School, for a vigil honoring Anderson's life. Mourners in the standing room only service gripped flickering candles, held one another and stood in prayer.
Anderson had a special bond with her mother, Dawana Davis. Now, Davis is struggling to grasp a life without her daughter — her “twin and mini me."
"What's been keeping me is just my memories of her. The last thing she texted me was a joke. ... She could finish my sentences and I could finish hers," she told the Free Press, describing the harrowing night she found out about the shooting.
Davis wrote in a remembrance to Anderson that when she lost her, she lost a part of herself.
"God blessed me with you so you could be an example to everyone's life you touch. And while I know, often, I will sit and try to make sense of this heartbreaking tragedy; I promise you I will try my hardest to represent you and make you proud of me," she wrote.
Anderson's dad Jerome Lloyd-Anderson wrote in his dedication that in a world full of mortals, his daughter was a Wonder Woman.
"Go in peace my beautiful daughter," he wrote, "you're the best person I have ever met."
Free Press staff writers Jasmin Barmore, Kristen Jordan Shamus and Marina Johnson contributed to this report.
Contact Nushrat: nrahman@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @NushratR. Sign up for Bridge Detroit's newsletter. Become a Free Press subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mourners say goodbye to Arielle Anderson
