UMW Student Remembered at Funeral Tuesday

Image: Grace Mann (Photo courtesy of UMW Feminists United, via Facebook)

A funeral service took place Tuesday for Grace Rebecca Mann, a University of Mary Washington student who was found unconscious Friday by two roommates at the house they shared in Fredericksburg. She was later pronounced dead at Mary Washington Hospital.

Family, friends and classmates gathered at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, and burial took place at King David Memorial Gardens. The ceremonies were streamed live by Temple Rodef Shalom and archived.

The university provided a free shuttle for students to the ceremony, which drew several hundred mourners, according to WRC-TV Channel 4.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to RCASA (Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault) www.rcasa.org.

According to her obituary, Grace’s family intends to establish a fund at the University of Mary Washington to honor her.

Grace, a 20-year-old junior, was the daughter of Thomas P. Mann, a Fairfax County juvenile and domestic relations judge and Melissa Mann.

A roommate, Steven Vander Briel, 30, was taken into custody Friday after a citywide manhunt. He has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction, and is being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford.

Students held a vigil for Grace on Saturday night on the UMW campus at the university’s Relay for Life, according to UMW Feminists United.

The university’s Office of Student Affairs released this statement Saturday:

“It is with great sadness that we report the death of one of our students, Grace R. Mann, a junior from Falls Church, Va. Extensively active on campus, Grace was an executive board member of Feminist United, an active member of PRISM, an appointee to the President’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, a Resident Assistant during her sophomore year, and a member of the Student Government Association Senate. She was a history and American studies major who was pursuing a minor in practical ethics. Under the guidance of her advisor Jess Rigelhaupt, Grace presented with fellow students earlier this month at the annual meeting of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The topic was Health Care Delivery, Hospital-Based Medicine, and Narratives of Change at Mary Washington Healthcare”