Josephe Gay, Sandy Hook victim, was Md. native | WJLA

Contents:

• JOSEPHE GAY
• LOL FUNDRAISER HELD FOR SANDY HOOK VICTIM, JOEY GAY, WHO WAS BORN IN MD.
• JOSEPHE GAY, SANDY HOOK VICTIM, WAS MD. NATIVE
• A FATHER’S DAY MSAGE FROM BOB GAY, JOEY’S DAD

JOSEPHE GAY

Josephe Gay had jt celebrated her seventh birthday three days before the shootg.

The Gay fay had a jungle gym the back of their yellow hoe suated on a quiet cul--sac. Josephe Gay “was known for her love of all thgs purple, ” read her obuary, which asked those who attend her funeral to wear the lor her honor.

Police officers enter the funeral of Josephe Grace Gay at the St. Pearl Gabel/Pearl Gabel for New York Daily News; The sket was taken outsi of Sat Rose of Lima Church Newtown followg the funeral of Josephe Gay. An openg ceremony was held for the latt playground the Sandy Ground project, this one dited to Josephe Gay.

LOL FUNDRAISER HELD FOR SANDY HOOK VICTIM, JOEY GAY, WHO WAS BORN IN MD.

Bob Gay, Josephe’s father, looks up at a Newtown flag that was jt raised at the new playground openg ceremony dited to his dghter, December 11, 2013, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Michele Gay, Josephe’s mother, hugs a Bridgeport firefighter after he raised a Newtown flag over the new playground openg ceremony.

It's lled Joey's Purple Ball, for 7-year-old Josephe "Joey" Gay, one of the 20 first-grars killed the Sandy Hook school shootg Newtown, Conn.

JOSEPHE GAY, SANDY HOOK VICTIM, WAS MD. NATIVE

"The btaly and the nocence of the people volved jt really affected people a warm, soft place and they jt had to be volved, " said Bob Gay, Joey's dad.

"We jt felt that givg back to so many of the other fai that are affected by tism would be exactly what she'd want to do, " said Joey's mom, Michele Gay.

"Joey and her iends haven't been gone six months, and if you look at the efforts, particularly charable efforts that have been done their nam, 's jt amazg how much good has brought out people, " Bob Gay said.

A FATHER’S DAY MSAGE FROM BOB GAY, JOEY’S DAD

First-grar Josephe "Joey" Gay was planng to celebrate her seventh birthday wh her classmat at a party planned for Dec. “The two were fast iends, ” Joey’s mother, Michele Gay, tells PEOPLE.

Monday marks the eighth anniversary of the shootg, which remas paful for the victims’ fai, cludg Gay, and Eie’s mother, Alissa Parker.

“Our hearts seem to get heavier as the date approach no matter what we do, ” says Gay, who celebrated what would have been Joey's 15th birthday on Friday. But Gay and Parker have each other to lean on for support. After the shootg, “the iendship and support we had for one another turned to the us of Safe and Sound Schools and this legacy for the girls, ” says Gay.