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Little angel Grace McDonnell remembered by family after Newtown massacre

‘They kept saying they can’t find her, they can’t find her’ says distraught grandmother

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Monday, December 17, 2012, 7:20 AM

Updated Monday, December 17, 2012, 9:22 AM

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Irish American Grace McDonnell - one of the 26 victims of the Newtown Sandy Hook school massacre

Photo by Boston.com

An Irish American grandmother has surrounded herself with the Christmas presents intended for her precious angel Gracie, lost forever in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

Little Gracie McDonnell was one of the 20 children tragically gunned down in the Connecticut school on Friday.

Days later, her devoted grandmother Mary Ann McDonnell is still struggling to come to terms with the reality of her loss.

Surrounded by bags of Christmas gifts intended for Gracie, she told the Boston Herald of her devastating loss.

“Gracie’s gone, the little girly girl is gone,” McDonnell said, her eyes brimming with tears as she spoke of the tot who loved playing dress-up with her grandmother’s jewellery and wearing pink.

“They kept saying, ‘They can’t find her. They can’t find her,’ ” McDonnell recalled of the aftermath. “All day long I was praying she would be OK.

“She was a wonderful little girl. She was always smiling. I think everybody should know about these beautiful children whose lives were cut short.”

Mary Ann told of her granddaughter’s love for art projects, soccer and gymnastics and how she adored her King Charles Spaniel, Puddin.

Grace lived in Newtown with her devoted mother and father and her 12-year-old brother Jack. Dad Chris commuted about 90 minutes to work in New Jersey every day because the family loved living in the community so much, her grandmother said.

McDonnell added: “A little baby like that - I just hope she didn’t suffer.”

Six-year-old Grace McDonnell was described as ‘utterly adorable’ and ‘full of life’ according to reports in the Daily Mail. Her eyes were so blue and her hair was so blonde that friends thought she looked like a ‘little doll’.

The paper also reports that the McDonnells live in a $500,000 detached home in Sandy Hook, Connecticut that is just one street away from where alleged shooter, Adam Lanza, lived.

The report says that from their front window they can almost see the home where the man who allegedly murdered their daughter is said to have slain his own mother before embarking on the murderous spree.

Neighbor Dorothy Werden, 49, said: “I just choke up when I think about it. Grace was like a little doll. She was utterly adorable.

“I used to see her waiting for the school bus over the road from our house every day. She had blonde hair and blue eyes - she was like a little Barbie doll.

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KweenOHearts | Dec 18, 2012, 06:09 PM EST

@stanchaz--- Your wailing and rending of garments would be a bit more believable if you mentioned that the children killer in this case was either a poorly, or wrongly diagnosed psychopath who acted on little more than his deranged instincts. Will you then blame the entire psychiatric profession, and ask for the removal of ALL psychiatrists practicing in the US for allowing in their midst non-qualified incompetents who misdiagnose people like Lanza? --- It is said that the killer had minimal social skills and a poor connection with others, and that he spent his time feverishly playing violent video games.--- Will you call as loudly for the proscription of such games, or even for the censoring and closing down of all digital producers of such games, since these people are creating criminal monsters while they become zillionaires? --- And what about the violent trash coming out of hollywood, which has the same effect on immature minds. Will you call for the closing down of that unmitigated cesspool? Why stop with guns... there's so much more you should spend your energy on!

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IrishAndProud | Dec 18, 2012, 05:11 AM EST

Actually, stanchaz, I'd like YOU to tell US with a straigt face exactly how many NRA members have been involved in ANY mass shooting, ever. And those 'precious gun rights' you sarcastically sneer at are not just the NRA's (like you try to make it sound) but EVERY American's, by birthright. Every heard of the Second Amendment? Do you know what it says (or any other Amendments, either) without having to go running and looking them up? With a straight face, again, tell me that every gun owner in the USA is happy about this massacre, and that they're somehow responsible for it when it wasn't even a gun owner but a gun THIEF who carried it out. And sitting there cutting and pasting the names and ages of the kids only reveals you to be the callous cheap shot artist you are, gleefully using their deaths to attempt to further a left-wing political agenda, and to broadbrush people who had nothing to do with this. Heck, man...let's outlaw knives and cords while we're at it, since they too are used to kill people with. QUIT USING THESE DEAD KIDS FOR YOUR POLITICAL AIMS. You're just as low as the killer, to do that. You know better. Knock it off.

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pilib04 | Dec 17, 2012, 11:44 AM EST

The Belfast Telegraph has the truth hours before the American media. The mother of the killer was NOT a teacher but a survivalist/Prepper, who taught her son how to use assault weapons. She "liked the singlemindedness of shooting!" Her sister-in-law Marsha Lanza said her gun-obsessed relative was part of the ‘prepper’ movement that fears an economic collapse will lead to a breakdown in society. “She prepared for the worst,” Ms Lanza said. “Last time we visited her in person, we talked about prepping — are you ready for what could happen down the line, when the economy collapses?” Nancy Lanza (52) had five registered firearms, had begun stockpiling food and taught Adam how to shoot. He is believed to have used three of her guns — a Bushmaster .223-calibre, and two handguns, a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9mm — in the school massacre after he shot her dead in bed.

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stanchaz | Dec 17, 2012, 11:30 AM EST

So tell me, National Rifle Association- tell me honestly and with a straight face- what's really more important: your precious gun "rights" , or the horrendous and shameful "wrong" of having our children and neighbors slaughtered by guns? Are we just going to let this go on, and on, and on? Or... are we going to FINALLY take action, and enact meaningful, national, gun restrictions and controls? Twenty tiny caskets are telling us- nay -they are PLEADING with us: - PLEASE - don't let our deaths be in vain! ...Grace McDonnell, age 7  ...Chase Kowalski, age 7  ...Josephine Gay, age 7  ...Daniel Barden, age 7  ..Emilie Parker, age 6  ...Dulan Hockley, age 6  ...Avielle Richman, age 6  ..Jessica Rekos, age 6  ...Caroline Previdi, age 6  ...Noah Pozner, age 6 ..  Jack Pinto, age 6  ...Charlotte Bacon, age 6 ...Olivia Engel, age 6  ...Ana Marqeuz-Greene, age 6  ...Catherine Hubbard, age 6

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handsome68 | Dec 17, 2012, 10:59 AM EST

All the little ones are "little angels", not just this one. As for the shooting itself, I ask why was there no guard on duty, or was there? I see that all the adults killed were women. Were any of the women guards? I fail to understand why such a vulnerable community should be taken out by this shooter.

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TisEyerish | Dec 17, 2012, 10:34 AM EST

I had to bring my six-year-old granddaughter, Kelly, to school this morning and Friday was very much on my mind. I wanted to just hold on to her, to keep her home from school. Of course, I couldn't. While I am in NJ, far from the shooting site, I couldn't help but think about it. The morning routine was a bit different...all the teachers were assembled in the hallway, which is not usual. There was a Police SUV parked next to the school...something I've never seen before. This tragedy has permanently changed life in America. We now know that nowhere is safe anymore. Nowhere. My heart goes out to the families of the victims. It also goes out to all those children who witnessed these events, which will impact the rest of their lives. I also question why the mother had these weapons in the home with a child who was described as "unbalanced." I'm glad he killed himself...I just wish he had done that before taking so many beautiful children from their families. May he burn in hell for eternity.

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Frosty38 | Dec 17, 2012, 09:31 AM EST

The are a lot questions to be answered here. He got those guns were his mothers pl. She had an weapons that were bad. The question is where did she keep them?? she needed them for what purpose

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bunchesofun | Dec 17, 2012, 08:44 AM EST

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

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