People News

Mindy McCready remembered in memorial

Mar 7, 2013, 11:01 GMT

Mindy McCready

Mindy McCready's life was remembered in a memorial service on Wednesday afternoon (06.03.13).

Almost 300 mourners attended a service at Nashville's Cathedral of the Incarnation to pay their respects to the country singer, who committed suicide last month.

The service began with the airing of a recording of Mindy's final song 'I'll See You Yesterday', and then Reverend Edward F. Steiner gave an introduction and prayer.

The late star's friend and spokeswoman Kat Atwood was first to pay tribute, saying: 'Mindy had the hope of a bright-eyed child, a spirit unbridled, the strength and courage of a warrior, a weakness for temptations, and a fear of failure and rejection.

'She possessed both the look of 'old Hollywood' and extraordinary, award-winning talent. She enjoyed insurmountable successes, hopeless and never-ending love, endured unthinkable personal conflict and contradiction, and crippling loss.

'Mindy was witty; she was clever; she was a wild cat; she was a lady. From the outside looking in, Mindy was both invincible and vulnerable. With all that was laid before her in such little time, I know I could not have walked in her shoes ... Music was her life, her therapy, her victory, her escape and her tragedy.'

Mindy - whose boyfriend David Wilson also shot himself to death five weeks before her apparent suicide - was also remembered in tributes from singer Lorrie Morgan and her friend Jimmy Nichols.

Her father Tim McCready didn't attend the service as he found it 'too emotionally difficult', said friend Tristan White, who spoke on behalf of the 37-year-old star's family.

He said: 'Her family watched her go downhill quickly and they tried all they knew.

'They wished they could have saved her but Mindy wanted to go home to Jesus and David.'

There were several musical tributes at the service, with Lorrie performing 'Ave Maria', country singer Bryan White singing 'What I Already Know' and former Fleetwood Mac member Bekka Bramlett getting the congregation to join her in 'How Great Thou Art'.

A funeral for Mindy - who was mother to sons Zander, six, and 10-month-old Zayne - took place in her hometown of Ft. Myers in Florida last month.