Hundreds fill ODU recital hall to remember slain music student

Claire Cucchiari-Loring

By JANETTE RODRIGUES
The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK - In a room where Old Dominion University senior Claire Cucchiari-Loring sang jazz standards and sacred music, her family and friends Tuesday celebrated a life tragically interrupted.

Salvatore Cucchiari brought smiles and laughter to mourners' faces during a memorial service at ODU's Chandler Recital Hall in the fine and performing arts building where his daughter had taken classes since 2003.

"I'm sure she's looking down right now saying, 'What's the fuss about?' " he said.

More than 300 mourners filled the recital hall and a nearby overflow room to honor Cucchiari-Loring, 22, who was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend last week in Chesapeake. Some stood against the walls in the crowded overflow room to watch a video feed of the service after seats ran out.

Describing his daughter as a leader, good friend and a talented singer who was gifted with a quirky sense of humor, Cucchiari said she was above all else a sweet and gentle soul.

"If you were wounded and needed help, she was there," he said. "She was there, and she took care of everyone in her life."

Cucchiari said he and other family members didn't realize just how much they depended on her as a caregiver until she was gone. He asked mourners to "remember Claire in those little corners of life," her goodness, compassion and character when they are with their friends, family, lovers and enemies.

A music major, Cucchiari-Loring was working toward graduating magna cum laude from ODU in May 2007. A photo collage of her was placed center stage with a bouquet of flowers. A picture from the memorial program showed a sweet-faced school-age girl, with a gamine smile, looking into the camera.

One of her professors, John Toomey, performed "Amazing Grace" and "You Are Too Beautiful" on a piano during the service.

Born in Ypsilanti, Mich., Cucchiari-Loring was described as a young woman with a passion for jazz and an interest in pursuing it in graduate school. At ODU, she sang with the jazz choir and the madrigal singers and was a vocal soloist with the jazz band.

According to her family, she loved making up songs and belting them out from the time she was a tiny girl. A graduate of First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, she was an honor student and active in band and choral groups.

During the ceremony, mourners laughed, cried and shared nods of remembrance as family and friends shared their "Claire stories." People started arriving for the 11 a.m. service more than two hours before it began.

Many who attended the service were students who had taken classes with her, such as John Newton, 29, who also studied voice and jazz at ODU. After the memorial, he stood with others whose lives had been affected by the young woman known for her purple "Xena: Warrior Princess" backpack.

"She had a way of cracking jokes," Newton said of Cucchiari-Loring, who he studied with for jazz and sight reading classes. They were in some of the same ODU performance groups. He said many on campus are stunned at her death because she always seemed so happy. He said any relationship problems she had with her ex-boyfriend seemed to be normal girlfriend-boyfriend things.

ODU student Suzanne McGuire, a close friend of Cucchiari-Loring, who had dinner with her the night she died, said the other young woman was happy, free and back with her friends. "We laughed, and talked, and she said how much she loved her friends and family," McGuire said, trying not to break down. "She loved all of you guys a lot."

Stephanie Brown called Cucchiari-Loring brave, "and that is what we have to remember about her."

In the obituary that ran Monday and Tuesday, her family asked that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made in Cucchiari-Loring's name to ODU's music department or Samaritan House in Virginia Beach.

Samaritan House is a shelter for the homeless and victims of domestic violence.

• Reach Janette Rodrigues at (757)222-5208 or janette.rodrigues@pilotonline.com.