Nearly 1,000 Attend Memorial For Tewksbury's Rhonda LeRocque

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Close to 1,000 people attended a memorial service Saturday at Tewksbury Memorial High School for Rhonda LeRocque, the 42-year-old local woman who was among the 58 killed Oct. 1 in Las Vegas in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The memorial service came one day after more than 1,500 people lined up to pay their final respects during a wake at the Nichols Funeral Home in Wilmington.

"Rhonda would have been overwhelmed at the outpouring of love, concern and support that so many have shown to me, to our daughter, Aliyah and to our whole family by taking time to come here today and to the visiting hours yesterday," Rhonda LeRocque's husband, Jason LeRocque, said in a statement following the service.

Subscribe to Tewksbury Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Jason LeRocque had just returned to the concert after taking their sleeping six-year-old daughter, Ali, back to the hotel where she was being watched by her grandfather, when the shots rang out. Rhonda LeRocque was among the first people to be shot. She died a few hours after the attack at the Trauma Center at University Medical Center in Las Vegas with her husband at her side.

Among the attendees at Saturday's service was Paul Poteat, a limo driver from Las Vegas. Poteat, who did not know the LeRocques prior to volunteering to drive them from their hotel to the convention center in the days following the shooting, traveled from Las Vegas solely to attend the service, according to WBZ.

"The show of support from family, friends, members of our congregations and the community is helping us through this incredibly difficult and heart-wrenching time," Jason LeRocque said. "Today was another example of support from the community around us."

Saturday's service was 45 minutes long and led by the Jehovah’s Witness congregation where the LeRocques worship. On Thursday, the family also launched a new website to offer updated information, including details for those who are giving to the LeRocque family fund.

"Trying to understand the road ahead for Jason and Ali after this tragedy, the unforeseeable impact on their future and the difficult healing and recovery ahead makes us all want to do everything we can to help them in every way possible," said Jonathan Merz, the owner of Merz Construction and Jason LeRocque's employer. "As a community of friends, colleagues and caring people, being so fortunate to have family and friends around us, it has been extraordinary to see the community come together and support this family that just had its core tragically and unexpectedly taken away, a family that needs support from all of us, as friends and as a community."

More On This Story

• Tewksbury Woman Among Victims In Las Vegas Shooting(10/2/2017)
• Community Rallies To Support Family Of Tewksbury Woman Slain In Las Vegas Massacre (10/4/2017)
• Band Donates Proceeds Of Show To Family Of Tewksbury Woman Killed In Las Vegas Massacre (10/5/2017)
• Funeral Plans Announced For Tewksbury Woman Killed In Las Vegas Massacre (10/11/2017)
• Vegas Gunman Took 'Happiest, Most Caring, Sweet, And Self-Sacrificing Person You Would Ever Know' (10/12/2017)

Patch file photo by LeRocque family.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).