Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Memorial service mourns and honors woman feared slain Date: Mon, 2 Nov 92 15:45:13 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Memorial service mourns and honors woman feared slain \BY Kristan Metzler \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Family and friends mourned the apparent death of Laura Bettis Houghteling at a memorial service yesterday, then celebrated her life at a reception where dozens of photographs of her were displayed. "This is a day of very mixed emotions. . . . She was so young, gifted and full of life's promise," said Jean Alexander, a family friend. Hundreds of mourners who attended the service at St. Alban's Church in Northwest were joined by Montgomery County investigators, who took a break in their search for Miss Houghteling's body yesterday. "We want to celebrate Laura's life . . . to thank God for Laura's life," Ms. Alexander said during the 1 1/2-hour service, where crowds spilled out of the church into the lobby. Friends told stories of Miss Houghteling's high school years at the National Cathedral School for Girls and at Harvard University. Classmate Catherine Sheehan recalled how Miss Houghteling, facing the pressure of writing two 25-page papers but not wanting to disappoint her friend, lugged a computer with her to a visit at the beach. It was among the many stories of Miss Houghteling's dedication to her friends. There also was a painful coincidence. On Oct. 21, John Mastny, a graduate of St. Albans who went to the Soviet Union on a high school exchange trip with Miss Houghteling, was killed during a robbery in Berkeley, Calif. Among the items found in his belongings was a picture from the trip showing him with his arm around his friend Laura. A "celebration of his life" will be held today at Washington Cathedral. "We were robbed of our most brilliant and promising graduates. I taught them both," said the Rev. William Billow. Some of the most telling stories about Miss Houghteling yesterday used her own words. In a paper written in school she said she would confront "evil with love," Mr. Billow said. And she wrote of her own pain when her father died six years ago of cancer - words family and friends said they have depended on to help them through their mourning. "We all suffer. Suffering is one way to grow. When we suffer, God suffers too. When we hurt, he hurts the most," read her brother Warren. "It hurts because we feel the loss . . . we can't lose hope," he read while weeping. "Her pain left her not bitter but strong. We can only hope to be so strong," said Rachel Allen, a friend. "There was no doubt we would be friends forever," said Miss Sheehan. "I never thought forever would come so soon." Miss Houghteling was last heard from Oct. 18, when she called a friend from her Bethesda home she shared with her mother, Penny, who was out of town. When she did not arrive the next day to work at Holman Communications, her friends told Warren, who contacted police. While hundreds gathered at the church yesterday, the whereabouts of Miss Houghteling's body remained a mystery. Police have searched the woods near the home where a bloody pillow and pillowcase were found shortly after her disappearance. Police labeled the case a homicide after the discovery of blood in her home. House keys also were found missing, her family announced at a press conference last week. A missing sheet and mattress pad have not been found. Police have said Miss Houghteling might have been killed in her bedroom. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM