Jaidyn Rice funeral: Tragic Bangor 16-year-old's death leaves 'deep, dark void where there was shining light'
Tragic teenager Jaidyn Rice was laid to rest today after an emotional church service, her distraught mother saying: “There is a deep, dark void left behind where your beautiful shining light once filled.”
Aged just 16, Jaidyn was killed this month when she was hit by a car while walking in her home town, Bangor.
An Army cadet who was very involved in youth and community work, she had recently started in her first job and was widely looked on as a great future leader in the voluntary sector.
But all that was taken away in a just few moments, the tragic accident a fortnight ago plunging the Co Down city into mourning.
A celebration of her life was held in St Andrew’s Church on Bangor’s Clandeboye Road yesterday afternoon, after which she was buried in nearby Clandeboye Cemetery.
Her coffin, styled in her favourite colour pink which her family had asked mourners to wear, was adorned with flowers and a framed photo of Jaidyn in her Army cadet uniform.
Battling through tears, her grief-stricken family and friends paid tribute to a fun-loving and inspirational teenager, someone approaching adulthood with more than her fair share of potential and a heart to match.
In a heartfelt message to her daughter, mum Elaine Rice said: “I’m so heartbroken I can’t put into words how much I miss you – I just can’t comprehend life without you.
“You have the most beautiful sparkling blue eyes I have ever seen, and I would do anything to look into them one more time; to hold you, to kiss you and tell you how much I love sweetheart. I can’t imagine never hearing you call me Mummy again, it’s the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my whole life.
“There will never be anyone with a heart as big as yours, baby, it was just too big and too pure for this Earth.
“I wish I had the words to tell you how proud I am of you, and how proud I am to be your Mummy. I am the luckiest person in the whole world to call you my daughter.”
Stating she wished she had more time with Jaidyn, Elaine said: “You would have been the most beautiful bride ever and the best mummy the world has ever seen. You had so many things still to experience in your life, and I am so sorry that was stolen from you.
“You have half of my heart with you – please hold tight to it princess, and know that I am with you always.”
Her little brother Kenley Clarke said his “brave and amazing sister” was “like glitter, she always shined hope and happiness into everyone who met her”.
Conducting the service, Rev Ian McKee described the 16-year-old as a “beautiful, very special young lady” who “everyone loved deeply and adored absolutely”.
Louise Little of voluntary youth group the DICE Project said Jaidyn was “a young person who was firmly on the path to being the best she could be, and whose presence made a difference far beyond her years”.
“Jaidyn was a light in this broken and sometimes dark world,” she added. “Her light is not gone; it’s in our memories, our stories, the way she wanted us to be.”