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Friends, family say goodbye to Brooke

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published February 17, 2005

	[Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.]
	Michelle Allen hugs her husband, police Officer Christopher Allen, near the grave of daughter Brooke Ashlee Ingoldsby on Wednesday.

PINELLAS PARK - Pastor Tracy Sawyer remembered Brooke Ashlee Ingoldsby as a child who always took time to help others.

Some of her fondest memories, Sawyer said at Brooke's funeral Wednesday, were of the 8-year-old holding hands, singing and dancing with the other children at church on Sunday mornings.

"She always had a smile on her face," Sawyer said. "She sang with everything she had inside of her."

Denise Miller, the principal at James B. Sanderlin Elementary School in St. Petersburg, called the child the school's "little ambassador."

"She loved to meet people," Miller said. "She took delight in their differences. ... Brooke, to me, was love, pure and simple."

About 200 people came to the 11 a.m. service at Wesleyan Church to pay their respects to the St. Petersburg third-grader, who was struck by an SUV Friday after being dropped off at her school bus stop. She died later that night at Bayfront Medical Center.

Parents with children in tow, many of them carrying long-stemmed pink roses, stopped to greet the family before taking their seats. A group of St. Petersburg police officers, co-workers of Brooke's stepfather, Christopher Allen, occupied several pews on the left side of the church.

About two dozen teachers from Sanderlin, the school Brooke had attended since she moved here a year ago from New York, sat on the right side.

Pinellas school superintendent Clayton Wilcox gave the teachers the day off to attend the service, sending 28 staff members from the district's Largo headquarters to fill in at the school.

Midway through the service, Brooke's uncle, Mark Allen, brought many to tears when he described her as a vibrant, blue-eyed angel with an engaging smile and an energetic nature.

"She was a northern snow girl transplanted into a golden beach bunny," Allen said. "It was impossible not to love her."

Images of the sandy-haired child filled a video screen overhead: Brooke at the wedding of her mother, Michelle, to Allen. Brooke holding her baby sister, Janessa. Brooke building a snowman.

Song lyrics brought fresh tears: "I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow."

After the hourlong service, dozens of cars formed a funeral procession and headed to Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Clearwater. They gathered there under a tent to hear the Rev. Dave Terhune say a few words, then watched as Brooke's mother and stepfather released eight white doves into the sky.

Dianna Gervasoni stood at a distance with her arm around her 9-year-old son, Anthony. The child was in Brooke's class at Sanderlin. The families lived in the same St. Petersburg apartment complex until two weeks ago, when Brooke's family moved, Gervasoni said.

Anthony was one of about a dozen Sanderlin students who attended the funeral.

"I asked him if he wanted to go," Gervasoni said. "Of course, he said yes. Brooke was his friend, his classmate."

As funeral home staff escorted family members to their cars, the Sanderlin teachers closed in around the principal, comforting her.

"In the past when children have died, I always wished I had known them better," Miller said through tears. "In this case, because I knew Brooke so well, it makes her death that much harder."

The Pinellas school district, with support from the Pinellas Education Foundation, has established a fund to provide financial support for the families of Brooke Ingoldsby and Rebecca McKinney. Those wishing to contribute can make checks payable to the Pinellas Education Foundation, care of Angel Fund, and mail to Angel Fund, Pinellas Education Foundation, 12090 Starkey Road, Largo, FL 33773.

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:13:08]