LIVERMORE FALLS – Samantha Johnson held her sister Heather’s grayish-brown stuffed bear, Teddy, as she struggled not to cry in front of the hundreds of people who had come to say goodbye to her older sister Thursday.
Heather Johnson of Jay died in an automobile accident Sunday in Gray and was buried one month to the day from her 19th birthday.
Pictures of Johnson rested on top of her white casket, which had messages written in black marker from family and friends. Collages of photos showed Johnson throughout her life, and on one were the words “Our Sweetie.” An arrangement of orange flowers shaped as a basketball with “Friends Forever 04” written on it, and a bouquet that had a field hockey stick in it, sat nearby at the front of Murray Hall in Livermore Falls.
Samantha Johnson, 17, addressed the people that had squeezed into the hall, many of them high school and college students, and told them about the special bond she and her sister shared.
Johnson said it didn’t feel right that she had to do this; her sister was too young.
They had so many plans together, taking part in each other’s weddings, raising children and growing old together, Johnson said.
As Johnson talked, tears rolled from many eyes.
Jay High School field hockey coach Jane DiPompo handed out tissues to field hockey team members, who were standing in back and wearing their team jerseys to represent the Lady Tigers.
Heather Johnson played both field hockey and basketball for the Tigers. She had planned to enter her second year to study architecture at the University of Maine in Orono next week.
Former Jay High School Principal Peter Brown described Heather Johnson as a “wonderful young woman who lived a beautiful life.”
“Heather was a friend to me, much more mature than her 19 years,” Brown said.
The music and voices of Joel and Janna Gilbert, former Jay students, sounded throughout the hall as they sang several pieces, including “Mountain of God.” A man sang “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks. All of them prompted more tears.
At the conclusion of the service, people went up to hug or shake hands with Corrina and Bill Johnson, Samantha’s and Heather’s parents. They sometimes touched the casket or kissed it.
Samantha Johnson met friends inside and outside the hall, crying at times but still holding Teddy.
“It was her Teddy. She had her for years,” Johnson said, looking into the eyes of the stuffed bear. “It’s mine now. Every time that I look into her eyes, I’ll look at her.”
Her sister always wanted her to be strong, she said.
“She’d tell me, Be strong, Samantha Jane. Be strong, Samantha Jane,'” she said. “She was my other half. She always told me I live for you, Samantha.’ Now I live for her as well as myself.”
One of Heather Johnson’s college roommates, Stacey Wells of Phippsburg, said she and Heather and two other women had picked out a house with four bedrooms near campus.
“It’s harder than I ever imagined,” Wells said. “She was just so amazing.” The two had seen each other through a lot their freshman year at the University of Maine, she said.
“It’s going to be so hard next year, not having that security,” Wells said.
Wells went to the casket and knelt down in front of it to write one last message.
“I know you will be waiting for me darling,” Wells wrote. “I better see that smile when I get there.”
Wells capped the marker, stood up, and kissed the casket before turning to leave the hall.
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