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An estimated 300 people gathered Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil honouring Anna Bielli, the seven-year-old London girl who died after being swept away in the storm-swollen Thames River earlier this month.
Attendees who knew Anna closely described her as “the happiest girl” – a lovely, caring child who lived life to the fullest and knew how to make people feel better.
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“She was full of life, full of love and full of hope,” her mom, Karen Fermill, said of the “special girl” who was known for being protective of her little brother and sister.
Her daughter was a talented child who loved to dance, sing and act. When a dance group wasn’t able to perform as expected on the last day of classes in June, Fermill said her daughter decided to go on stage and sing instead, performing a song she’d been preparing to sing at church.
“When she’s on the stage, she looks at me and she’s so happy,” Fermill recalled.
For her father, Anna was a source of comfort in difficult times.
“She was everything to me. I was looking forward to her being 16 and 20 and 25,” Joseph Bielli said. “Anna would go out of her way to just come up to me and say ‘daddy, I love you,’ which would get me back into the loving mood.”
The vigil’s large crowd gathered outside Northbrae public school in northeast London, where Anna would have started Grade 2 in September. Those in attendance included friends and family, teachers, school administrators and scores of police and other emergency workers who helped in the extensive three-day search after she was swept away on Aug. 1.
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Mayor Josh Morgan spoke at the vigil, along with police Chief Thai Truong and Northbrae’s principal, Tara MacDonald.
Many attendees wore pink, which was Anna’s favourite colour.
She went missing after entering the river about 300 metres east of the Adelaide Street bridge in northeast London. Her body was found in the river near Western University after a three-day search.
The search involved several agencies, including London police, firefighters and the Ontario Provincial Police, along with dozens of civilian volunteers.
Following the discovery, an impromptu memorial emerged on the walkway along the Adelaide Street bridge, near where she entered the water, with balloons and stuffed animals placed along the bridge railing.
Nicknamed Princess Anna, her father said: “Ever since Anna (was born), she’s been the queen and the princess of the entire family. She looks after everybody.”
Of the name Anna, her mother said: “I named her that because the name Anna is angelic to me. For sure, she’s a special angel now.”
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