Loved ones said their final goodbyes Tuesday to one of the victims killed in a concert stampede at the Main Street Armory in Rochester earlier this month.
Family and friends say it was not a funeral, but a celebration of life. They came together Tuesday to comfort each other and to remember and honor Brandy Miller.
"If you knew her, she always celebrated,” said Miller's godsister, Ketara Mack. “No matter what, she found good in anything. No matter how bad it was, she going to make you laugh through it. She going to be there to help you get through it too. No way was anybody prepared for this.”
Miller went out for an evening of fun and did not make it home.
She got caught up in the chaos when the crowd rushed toward the exit after the concert.
Miller was 35 years old.
Her father, James Green, spoke at the service and says life now will be difficult,
“There’s going to be a void because Brandy put stuff together for the family after her mother died,” he said.
The Salvation Army Chapel was packed with people offering heartfelt condolences.
Miller was a certified nursing assistant who donated her organs.
“I’m just happy that she was able to donate and she'll live on,” Mack said. “So whoever got her heart got a big heart and I hope they live a healthy life because she was a healthy person. And the heart that they got, that’s a healthy heart and I hope they cherish that heart like we cherished it.”
The family of 35-year-old Aisha Katherine Haskins-Stephens, of Syracuse, says her funeral services will take place on Saturday, March 25 at Bethany Baptist Church on Beattie Street in Syracuse. Calling hours will be held from 9-11 a.m. with the funeral to follow immediately after.
Family members say Haskins-Stephens coached the national cheerleading champions and Kirk Park Colts as well as worked in the Syracuse School District through the Good Life Program.
Haskins-Stephens, Miller and Rhondesia Belton, 33, of Buffalo, were critically injured when police say a crowd of panicked fans tried to quickly push their way to the exits. All three women died at Strong Memorial Hospital, according to authorities. Seven other people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Friends and family said goodbye to Belton last week.
Rochester police say the investigation into the cause of the stampede continues.