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Letisha Reimer’s dad remembers singing his baby daughter to sleep and finding, as he tried to lay her down, a tiny hand clenched to his sweater.

“She wasn’t letting go, and neither was I,” he told a crowd of 1,000 people Saturday afternoon at a celebration of life for his 13-year-old daughter, who died in a random attack at her high school on Nov. 1.

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Letisha’s parents, Uli and Ellie Reimer, spoke about a girl who loved her younger sister and brother, animals, sushi, and hiking — and held tightly to her faith in Jesus.

The night before she died, Letisha received an invitation to go out with her friends for Halloween, according to a eulogy delivered by her uncle. She chose to stay home with her family, have dinner and go trick-or-treating.

The next morning, her mom brought her to school. They sat in the car together and talked for a bit.

“I told her I loved her very much and she told me she loved me very much back,” said Ellie Reimer in a trembling voice. “I have to believe she knows she was very loved … (and that) Jesus was right there in that moment (when she died). He took her in his arms, and there was only light.”