More than 300 family, friends and neighbours came to bid a sad and tearful goodbye Sunday afternoon to Mya Prouty, the outgoing seven-year-old girl killed in a devastating house fire two weeks ago.
“Anytime there is a loss of life, it’s grieved whether it’s before birth or at 90 years old,” Rev. Adam Renouf said after presiding over and delivering the devotional message at the memorial service. “But there is something about seven years old, they’ve lived so short a time and there are so many things that the familywishes that they would have grown up to do. They’ve lived long enough to leave an unforgettable mark on your life. This is extremely difficult.”
Mya, one of four children who perished in the early morning Jan. 7 fire, was described in her obituary as a Girly Girl who loved to play dress-up and spend hours in front of the mirror putting on her grandmother’s makeup. She loved adventures, summer, going to the beach, music and dancing along to all her favourite singers, including Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake. And she loved her baby brother, Winston, who also died in the fire.
“Even though Mya was only with us a short time, she brought so much joy into our lives,” the obituary read. “Mya will live on in our hearts forever and will be dearly missed by everyone who had the good fortune to know her.”
Renouf was aware of the personal pain that hung heavy at Huskilson’s Memorial Chapel in Barrington on Sunday. Renouf lost his 30-year-old sister and sevenyear- old niece in a tragic car accident 10 years ago.
“I started off with that,” Renouf said of his message to the mourning community.
Then, Renouf turned to the bible story of Job and God’s answer to undeserved suffering.
“Job loses 10 of his children in one day,” Renouf said.
“He grieves but the bible also says that he fell on the ground and worshipped God. There was a trust in God that he had and we see that as well at the end of the book when God answers Job. He never gives him the why answers but he shows Job more of himself. At the end Job says, I’ve heard of you with my ears but now I see you with my eyes.
“Through his tragedy, Job knew more of God. He talked about how God not only created us but is intimately involved in our lives. We see the greatest demonstration of that in that he sent his own son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. The hope and the comfort that we can give is from the word of God.”
The communities around Pubnico Head, where the fire took place, have been through the gamut of emotions in the past two weeks.
“The area, there has been a lot of grief lately, a lot of heartache that’s been happening. Everybody knows someone going throughsomething, whether it’s cancer or having a childdie unexpectedly,” said Renouf, pastor at Clark’sHarbour United Baptist Church. “The congregation grieves for the family and we’ve been praying for them.”
Congregants poured into the service to offer whatever consolation they could to the family, forcommon-law parents Phillip Prouty and Emma Kennedy, who were home at the time of the fire but escaped. Prouty was brought out of an induced coma two days after the fast-moving house fire, according to Ervin Olsen, the great-grandfather of two of the four children who died. Kennedy stayed by Prouty’s side in a Yarmouthhospital, mourning the loss of their blended family and a cousin.
The sad farewells continue early in the week, with the memorial service for Mason Grant, Prouty’s nephew, set for Yarmouth on Monday.
An obituary for Grant says the little boy had an “infectious smile,” and a passion for fishing with his dad, “digging for bugs and searching for frogs.”
On Tuesday, four-month-old Winston Prouty and his four-yearold sibling, Jayla Kennedy, will be remembered in a joint service at the Yarmouth Wesleyan Church.
Blond-haired Jayla was a “happy-go-lucky social” girl who loved riding her bike, swimming and playing with her cousins and siblings, her obituary said.
Winston’s obituary said he was “good natured and always happy and giggling,” especially when bouncing in his jolly jumper and playing with his sisters.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but the RCMP have ruled out foul play.
