For Bianca, 7: ‘See You in Heaven’

More than 200 friends and relatives paid their respects Sunday to little Bianca Perez, 7, one of two girls who were killed last week in front of their Anaheim elementary school when a car jumped a curb and pinned them against a wall.

“This was our chance to say goodbye and support the family,” said Centralia Elementary Principal Cindy Chaffee, among those who attended the memorial service at Victory Baptist Church in Anaheim.

Anaheim police said the traffic investigation into what happened may take weeks.

They say they have no answers yet on how Maria Juarez, 50, of Anaheim jumped the curb at a pick-up and drop-off zone, crushing Bianca and first-grader Nidia “Liz” Curiel, 6, at the school Tuesday. Police say they believe Juarez accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.

They are also investigating whether the vehicle had a mechanical failure or whether Juarez was distracted just before the tragedy.

At the service, the Rev. Win Boediarto spoke in English, which was translated to Spanish for the ethnically mixed crowd. At one point, a boy in a white shirt and dark slacks walked up to the podium and handed one of the church leaders a note.

Written in a child’s scrawl, it sought permission for one of Bianca’s classmates, Edmund Levale, 7, to sing a hymn to her. But first he asked a favor. “I have music sheets but I need your piano player,” the boy’s note said.

After someone stepped forward to accompany him on the piano, Edmund leveraged all the courage he could and returned to the podium with his grandmother, Anna Buttel, and one of her grandsons, Aaron Uele, 11.

“I live right across from the school where it happened,” Buttel said. “I heard the commotion and everything.”

She said she and her grandsons sing in the choir at their church and left early Sunday to offer their respects to Edmund’s classmate, whom he liked a great deal. Midway through the hymn, Edmund was taken with emotion as he used a shirt sleeve to wipe away tears.

The title of the hymn, Buttel said, was “Where Is Heaven?”

When they finished, everyone, including Bianca’s parents, Alma and Ramon Perez of Buena Park, who were in the first row, applauded.

Those who knew Bianca say the little girl, with the dark bangs and bright smile, seemed to make those around her happier.

Bianca had transferred to Centralia from Fairhaven Elementary School in Santa Ana a week before she was killed. Her second-grade teacher from Fairhaven, Miranda Martinez, attended the service.

“I remember Bianca’s last day with us,” Martinez said. “We were reading on the lawn, and we had gotten pizza. This was such a shock. When I heard about it, I thought, ‘My Bianca.’”

Jose Mora, a relative, said he sought solace by writing a poem for Bianca, “Hermosa Florecita”--Beautiful Little Flower--which he shared at the microphone.

“Bianca loved being at church more than anything else,” Mora said. “Sometimes it takes a life to bring light into a dark world.”

The service included a multimedia program with pictures of Bianca as an infant, then toddler, then young girl in a blue dress with a pair of white barrettes in her hair. It ended with a simple sentence: “See you in heaven.”

With that, the mourners filed out, many offering condolences to the girl’s parents. Then, Ramon Perez picked up the couple’s other daughter, Emily, 2, and with his wife followed the small, white casket adorned with red, white and pink roses out of the church.

Funeral services for Bianca are scheduled for today at 10 a.m. at Hilgenfeld Mortuary in Anaheim. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress.

A memorial service for Liz Curiel is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. at La Iglesia Luz del Mundo in Santa Ana.