Dozens were in attendance at the funeral for one of the three armoured guards slain on the University of Alberta campus.
Every seat was full when the service for Michelle Shegelski began Tuesday afternoon, and her husband of two months delivered her eulogy.
“What else could one possibly desire?” Shegelski’s husband Victor said. “Our future was planned, full of adventure, glory and pirate treasure.
“I can say without a doubt, that our wedding was the best day of our lives.”
That day appears to have become a close connection to memories of the young woman, a photo of Shegelski taken on her wedding day was on the cover of the program – and in the casket her body was dressed in her wedding gown.
Her mother described her as a vivacious and passionate person.
“Her approach to life was to run at it full speed and jump in,” Shegelski’s mother Cheryl Ernst said. “She lived life at a million miles an hour, but she always made time for family.”
The circumstances that lead to Shegelski’s death were never mentioned; those in attendance focused their attention on remembering the person and not the armed robbery and triple homicide, that left three armoured guards, including Shegelski dead.
The 26-year-old woman was part of a team of five armoured guards – all of whom were working for the company G4S – and refilling an ATM at HUB Mall on June 15.
The fourth guard, Cpl. Matthew Schuman was also shot in the incident, but survived, and is recuperating in hospital.
Their co-worker, Travis Baumgartner, 21, is facing murder and robbery charges.
On Tuesday, Shegelski’s uncle, John Ernst, took a moment to thank the public for their support in the wake of the tragedy.
“This tragic time in our lives has been tempered by the amount of caring we’ve been shown.”
For Victor Shegelski, he ended the eulogy for the woman he lived with her own words.
“I found a quote in one of her notebooks, it said ‘One day I want to be capable, I want people to say: “That’s a woman.”’
“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s a woman.”
With files from Sean Amato
