When his mother was murdered on Valentine’s Day this year, Sammiyen Lairopi and his family did not know how they were going to pull everything together, much less to afford to give her a proper burial. A funeral in their young family seemed so very far away, if it was even something they thought about.
On February 14, Sumittra Lairopi walked out of a Tamuning restaurant after having dinner with her friends, and she was shot by an assailant. A man now is in jail facing murder charges. She died shortly afterward. Sammiyen, her eldest son, was in the mainland U.S., where he lives.
His dad and her widower, Roman Ayuyu Lairopi, Jr., started a GoFundMe page to ask for donations up to $20,000 so he could bury his wife.
The men and women who run Our Lady of Peace cemetery saw the news of the fundraising effort, and their hearts broke for this family. So they waived the costs.
“My family and I are without a doubt, very grateful and thankful for what they have done for us,” Sammiyen said. “It took a huge financial burden off our backs.”
His mother was described on countless social media posts by many who knew her as a kind and gentle woman. “Why did they have to shoot her?” one patron of the restaurant where she worked asked, incredulously. “They could have pushed her out of the way. They didn’t need to shoot her.”
Our Lady of Peace did not put out any news release or seek any recognition about this kindness from them. A person connected to the company asked me to reach out to the family after Kandit ran an article about the GoFundMe page to see whether the family would like a plot at the Yona cemetery. This is how I knew about the donation. I just wanted to wait for a bit of healing by time before approaching Sammiyen again to ask him whether it would be okay if we did this story.
He was most gracious and grateful.
“It really does give me hope and faith that there is still humanity in people,” Sammiyen said. “It did fill a piece of my heart that was shattered when I was trying to put it back together.”
Rest in the Peace of our Lord, Sumittra Lairopi. May you be dancing with the angels in Paradise.
1 Comments
Dawn Maka
04/19/2024 at 7:42 AM
May she rest in peace. She is up in heaven watching over you and her family. Yes, there’s still good people on this island of ours. You will be okay. God bless you all and give you strength to go on.