Services Set for Mary Sherlach, CT School Shooting Victim

Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist killed in a shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, will be laid to rest this week. 

A memorial service will be held 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20 at Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Road, Trumbull, CT. Friends are invited to meet directly in St. Stephen Church, 6948 Main St., Trumbull at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21 for a Memorial Mass. Interment will be private. 

Condolences may be sent through the funeral home's website. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Fairfield County Community Foundation, Fund for Health and Wellness, 383 Main Ave., Norwalk, CT 06851, to continue Sherlach's work with children and mental health.

Sherlach, 56, was hailed as a hero in the deadly shooting, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults. As shots rang out in the school, she ran toward the shooter, The Huffington Post reports. 

Sherlach had worked at Sandy Hook Elementary School since 1994, "doing what she termed 'God's work' by helping children who needed her the most," according to her obituary on the funeral home's website. 

"Mary is remembered as a loving wife and mother, and a caring soul who was always there to lend an ear or a shoulder to someone in need," according to the obituary. 

Sherlach's son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, a Deptford, NJ resident, said in an interview with Patch last week that Sherlach was a year away from retirement, and had looked forward to spending more time with her husband, Bill, at their vacation home along the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.