Cardin told how his nephew always had a friendly greeting for everyone, patiently repaired his cousins' cars, tirelessly entertained children with four-wheeler, snowmobile and wagon rides.

"Sometimes, he was a big kid himself," Cardin said, raising chuckles especially from the pews reserved for family, who filled almost half the church. "He has all the toys to prove it."

The devoted family man and father of two young sons, said Cardin, "took extremely tender loving care of his grandmother. ... He was the one constant in her life. She could count on him visiting seven days a week no matter what."

There was no direct mention of Darcy's death at the hands of an assailant at a camp on Drown Road in Mooers, where he'd gone to perform some routine maintenance.

But Andrew Sparks, a cousin, recited a poem he'd written that blended agony over the unspeakable act with hope.

"Grieving widow," it reads in part, "hold onto the light and give your crumbling heart a rest ... You are stronger than darkness."

The Rev. John Looby framed his brief homily around the Gospel reading, which told how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

"I am the resurrection and the life," Looby repeated the words from the Bible, the Lord's message to Lazarus's sister Martha. "Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live."

"I think these words were recorded so we could hear them at a time like this," Looby said.

"All we can do at this point," Cardin had said near the close of his remarks, "is take one day at a time and move forward."

Darcy wouldn't want it any other way, he said.

"Heather," Cardin said to Darcy's widow, "we will all be here for you every step of the way. We will take care of you and the boys for Darcy, because Darcy would be the first to step forward to help any one of us."

He directed his final words to Darcy.

"Rest assured your family will be in good hands with all of us.

"You will now be our guardian angel.